EXCERPT: SAINT LAURENT. FALL READY-TO-WEAR 2024 - PARIS FASHION WEEK.

 

"...His Fall 2024 collection has taken this up a notch, and further into the epicurean, in fact Vaccarello's latest offering for Saint Laurent is not only dark in its overture, it is, without trying to blend a gothic element into the styles, apocalyptic.  Falling towards the 1970s and 1980s Cold War drumbeat, the styles feel dark, brooding, with a gelid sexiness to its overall impression.  When the Doomsday clock was Ten minutes to midnight in 1970 and by 1984 it was Three minutes to midnight, in 2024 it's now Ninety Seconds to doomsday.  And you would be forgiven if you felt that it has all become a hyperreal showpiece, beamed through your smartphone.  As no Cold War 2 has been called, even though there are Two major conflicts, and a French President saying NATO troops should fight against Russia in Ukraine.  A genocide of Palestinians by a Western backed Israel, all the while an American President eating an icecream, is claiming that a ceasefire is close, while Israel bombs the Gaza strip.  And far Right Wing militarists and neoconservative technocrats are claiming political power throughout the world.  

And this is where I find Vaccarello's collections fascinating, in trying to pinpoint through his styliations, if a counterculture is in fact emerging. Which for the most part remains very illusive.  Could it be a newfound hedonism that has unplugged itself from the digital relays? There is a analog tonal charm to his Fall 2024 collection, the gloss has been desaturated, in its yearning of portraying an amorous setting of yesteryear.  It is far the most sexually charged and revealing array from Vaccarello to date, highlighting Saint Laurent's revere of the feminine with an abundance of sheer tops, skirts and a visible nakedness.   

It is sex and oblivion, as the end draws near.

Maybe that is the ultimate protest.   A stunning collection."

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(A.Glass 2024)

Full review:  chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2024/03/saint-laurent-fall-ready-to-wear-2024.html