Saint Laurent Fall 2019 RTW – Paris Fashion Week

(Images from Vogue.com and wwd.com. The public domain. Used in promotion of the designer.)

Anthony Vaccarello has taken the creative reigns of Saint Laurant and reinvigorated the multinational conglomerative brand into a new dynamic, and yes, as noted from previous reviews of shows.  He is borrowing heavily from past glories of Yves Saint Laurent's greatness as a designer, from the Cossack styles of the 1970s, through to the decadent late 70s and 80s sex 'power' styles.  The excess and hedonism of nightclubs, discos and drugs. I like this, because what he is doing, is a historic snapshot of past details of the brand, although maybe not overly conscious, it is, in my opinion, the appeal of indulging hedonistic aesthetics prior to the late 1990s – before we entered a strange mix of political sensibilities and socially geared 'catchphrases' inspired by digitalized feedback re-loops (the Internet).  To which the left and right have all galvanized (and thus have begun to sound like each other) to draw from the corrupt political gravy train.  That could be running dry.  All the while family value conservatism via a swelling middle class, which is widespread at the moment, maintains a fragile footing in an overly indebted monetary world. 

So, how do major brands, particularly in fashion evolve in discord markets of confusion and fear?  Simple as a business, they'll look at the bottom line.  More importantly they'll need to keep up with cheaper fast fashion industries and they're duplication process.  YSL and the other famous fashion houses can easily recalibrate back into its more simplified, yet exclusive, orginal forms and styles, which made them iconic.   And this is occurring today. Following suit will be Celine (last show was indicative), Burberry, Gucci and Versace.  The exclusivity bar will rise, as will the length of skirts. 

Vaccarello has hand stitched together and fitted some of the broad shoulder blazer styles, in fact the whole collection looks hand crafted sans the later factory laser styled cuts thereafter. It flows with an incredible ease. Comfortably portrayed by the models and that is important. Again, you can see how professionally fitted and arranged this was backstage.  A lot of thought and care has gone into Saint Laurent's Fall 2019 showing.  The full length wool trench coats, satin tuxedo styled pants, late 70s short 'shorts' patterned and embellished in amatory desires.  Stockings, set against seductive cues.  Sheer, see through blouses, low cut V-neck tops and mini skirts. It is tantalizing, smart and powerfully held as a sexual possibility, but not that easily given out.  This is where you can see the structure of Vaccarello's fixture in a suggestion within this collection, that the female who is more powerful is than one that need not 'rock the boat' or be some hashtag revolutionary, and in his quote for this collection “...she not a combatant. But she is really strong, she is fearless.” Which can be seen clearly within this collection of power and sex and why not?  The exhaustion of so many wasting so much time on the internet trying to win favors with silicon valley via social and political jargon.  All the while being been fleeced with ad revenue.  It is a waste of time. You wanna beat this.  Be your own warrior.  Not a victim.  To live is to survive and it's every single day.  In the meantime feel sexy doing it.  You got nothing to lose.

As at the end of the day.  The King and Queen will always go back into the same box.