Saint Laurent. Pre-Fall 2021
Anthony Vaccarello returns with his Resort 2021 collection for Saint Laurent, crossing over time lines once again, but remaining slightly more fixated on the 1980s rather than the 60's and 70's as an inspiration for his latest array following on from his Spring 2021 collection. With past decades merging all over the place within Fashion and other aspects of popular culture, as the 1990s, in occasional off hand speak and oddly described, at times, a vintage period, it is society now twenty years into the 21st Century which is caught within a tipping point of its own confusion. A pandemic has given us all a wake up call to the overconfidence that the digital age has inspired and the effect has being unrelenting, until sociological and urban adjustments can be made and it might not alone come from the hope of vaccinations. There will be no old normal or even new, but something entirely different. So, Vaccarello's delving into historic turning points of the 20th century to which the era that began with the hope of nuclear power and the computer chip, descended into turmoil into the 60's and 70's, holds an interesting relevance – in what transpired into the 1980s, as a reflection, was deeply effected by a terrible pandemic called AIDS that swept the world. History, like the American author Mark Twain once said, may not repeat but it does “rhyme”.
The sombre appeal of Vaccarello's inclusion into 1980s for Saint Laurent's Resort 2021 collection, just as he achieved with his 1970s influences drawn from Yves Saint Laurent surfeited opulence, could be, if looked at from an analytical point of view, trivializing the era as nostalgic snapshots. But, with COVID-19 the indulgence of cherry picking through history for inspiration may also show the darker and would could be deemed closer-to-home of the cultural impact this virus will have on the fashion industry. As seasonal collections over the years have moved away from their namesakes, so has Resort, which traditionally is offered as a preview for Spring/Summer holiday ensembles. Vaccarello darkened resonance maybe reflective of the current sentiment pending the coming warmer months.
The out wear lingerie remains as does the sultry early 1980s esque impressions. Vaccarello has set a precedence with incorporating the hedonism and one-night-stand desirability of the tail end of Studio 54 days of the late 70's, where discos, Wall Street traders, cocaine, celebrates and extramarital affairs reigned. Open coats and blazers, with slip lingerie, lace body suits and busier tops, blouses and high hemmed shorts. The sexual overdrive of Vaccarello's latest collection is certainly higher than previous collections, with the look book entirely shot in black and white, exasperating the sybaritic. The Saint Laurent Resort 2021 designs on offer, as you would expect, are of the exceptional degree, yet the collection looks frustrated, even with the sensual cues, it feels restrained. Maybe Vaccarello is yearning to return to the affluence of his former runway shows beneath Eiffel Tower or quite possibly he has reached a peak of creativity, despite its reflective interest, in his use of themes of yesteryear.
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