Seriously sexy suits cut from lush black velvet, sensuous silks, luxurious black leather and the vibrant palette of African wildlife have always been the hallmarks of the famed Parisian house of Yves Saint Laurent—now simply known as Saint Laurent. Saint Laurent’s current designer, Anthony Vaccarello, turned out an almost all-black collection, save for a few floral dresses that recalled the glory days of hedonismm when disco balls spun above Grace Jones’ and Bianca Jagger’s heads while their dizzying beauty slayed the dance floor.
But Vaccarello also delivered clothes that go almost anywhere all the time. Of course, you have to put the leather short-shorts aside (shorts that were sometimes trimmed in mink—you never know when you might need a muff), and just think how fabulous it would be to have an all-black wardrobe of leather blazers, lace blouses, perfect skinny jeans and just about the best fedora money can buy—unless you’ve had it made to measure.
Shoulders were also an important feature, with one side of a dress showing a cold shoulder and the other side going bold, with a shoulder built up to a soufflé-sized structured pouf at the top of a single wrist-length sleeve.
Other silhouette statements were linebacker-worthy square shoulders and plunging V-necklines on black dresses printed with electric-blue, taxi-yellow or hot-pink florals cut way below the sternum, which would look just as cool as a tunic over a turtleneck and leggings. (More power to those who dare to bare to the belly button; I’ll be watching, but personally, I won’t be wearing it that way—unless an Olympic amount of gym time and an epic amount of Champagne come together in a perfect storm before I go out to party.)
Although most consumers won’t be buying the collection at the prices people pay on New York City’s Fifth Avenue or the Left Bank in Paris, I guarantee you’ll be seeing variations on everything on Saint Laurent’s runway at your local fast-fashion retailer faster than you can say “Merci, Monsieur Vaccarello.”
The makeup for the show was all-black everything, too, and I think we’ll be seeing it everywhere come fall. Clean, fresh faces were adorned with a single detail: a bold, black “couture pink eye,” a tough-chick take on a cat eye, created by French makeup artist Tom Pecheux for YSL Beauty. Black victory wings spread from the bridge of the nose to the tail of the eyebrow, using the brand’s Eye Marker to line the entire eye and the Eye Duo Smoker pencil for creating the smoldering eye effect.
Even though the Saint Laurent woman projects a dark and decadent aesthetic, she knows you still need some sparkle. A touch of silver liner with a whisper of glitter at the inner corners of the eyes was The Glow Up-girl accent we’re looking forward to for fall!