If you long for broad shoulders — like really, really, really big — you can thank Mr. Anthony Vacarello for it. Vaccarello-owned Saint Laurent has been raising prices on its womenswear and menswear collections in recent seasons. This is a look based on squared lines with a lot of impact. It was also a neat way of emphasizing his and the brand’s exemplary tailoring skills, which are, it’s safe to say, considerable.
Saint Laurent Pre-Fall Womenswear is coming to stores now, sketching out the look, if in less extreme terms. Masculine shape-shifting coats slung over those shoulders, their air exaggerated by shades, knocker earrings, and pointy-heeled black boots. They reappeared on leather and shearling jackets, some cut with a curvy, belted look that would cheer Tess McGill’s heart—”Six thousand dollars, and it’s leather! ’—or the neat aviator’s version, with feathery shawls knotted around their necks dragging in the wind, leaving everyone and everything behind them.
High-shine, high-energy fashion era, roughly late ’90s to just dawn’90 s, is something that Vaccarello’s YSL has been utilizing for a long time. His cleverness, however, was to amplify the exterior while also removing some of its associations. Yes, he might evoke that time with his second-skin black gowns, wrists accentuated by heavy gold cuffs, or a roomy boardroom coat paired with a slim pencil skirt that falls just above the knee. But this is not a historicist retreat; it is a historicist retreat. There’s no attempt here to create clothing with outdated ideas of power and status.
Instead, Vaccarello’s attitude read modern: a touch of mess in the model’s hair, a certain androgynous beauty, a casual spontaneity to the whole process. Vaccarello is for those who are curious about wearing chicer, shinier, more structured clothing, but are still firmly committed to living in and dressing for today’s world.
Speaking of timing, this collection is actually a precursor to the fall-chic chic style he showed in Paris a few months ago. As with all pre-series calendars, there can be a bit of Christopher Nolan syndrome at times: Did we just see that? Is this the first time, or after? Nevertheless, despite this, we have always believed that when it comes to Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent, it is only about the here and now.
