Saint Laurent. Fall Ready-to-Wear 2023 - Paris Fashion Week
Anthony Vaccarello's love affair with the 1980's esque hedonism continues on. And there is no doubt that there was indeed a sweet spot of creativity, open sexuality and ambition before everything decades later became digitized and over exaggerated. With 80's entrepreneurism was more akin to gamble than a possibility of being a commercial nobody on social media feeds. It was an era that was by no means lead by self deception, despite it being being under the shadow of nuclear annihilation, a dreadful virus and Western cities which were in shambles before the cross flows of globalized markets lead to prefab gentrification. Hence, why in popular culture many designers, musicians artists are still drawing from that period of 1975 through to 1988. It felt more real.
Yet, as reminded in the numerous of reviews that I have written of Vaccarello's Saint Laurent, the romanticism of the late 1970's and early to mid 80's is also bedimmed with fame and misfortune, drug abuse and that unmistakable boulevard of broken dreams - to which many were consumed. However, Vaccarello's Fall 2023 collection has moved on from those fallen stars in their hopes and aspirations, planting itself into the ruthless side of the late 1980's; be it corporate raiders and the elevation of sexual power, played out in numerous Hollywood productions of that time. It was shoulder pads and power suits and the beginning of the rise of the super model as we all entered the 1990's.
It is not an attractive collection as opposed to Vaccarello's 70's and early 80's stylizations for the famous fashion brand, rather Vaccarello has run deep into inspiration from the late Ives Saint Laurent and then later Tom Ford's sexualized dominatrix appeal, when both designers reflected wealth and power as a primary aesthetic of the feminine. And it would be at the strike of a pen, you could lose your job. Thus, the corporate world's brutal reliance and feverish motivation of greed, as Wall Street pumped and dumped. In a mostly male dominated work place, with the many women trying to secure a slice of that pie. Power dressing was very much the yuppy statement of success, and as the sexual revolution petered out into the late 80's, sex became more of a tool. Utilized as a way of making or breaking a deal or more importantly, to retain your employment.
Knee high skirts, slouchy satin and silk sleeveless blouses, stockings, blazers and shoulder pads. The collection feels cold even aggressive in its presentation, large wraparound leather and wool jackets. With the models wearing sunglasses throughout the runway presentation, also noted are the braless and deep cut tops, with suggestive cues in the power play of the Eros. Vaccarello has masculinized the collection, by offering the looks to be a way of equalizing the feminine in a male world of mergers and acquisitions. Does it hold up today? In some ways it does. The more things change, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".
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(A.Glass 2023)
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