It-designer Anthony Vaccarello on Tuesday sent out a Saint Laurent men's collection that felt both sun-drenched and haunted, set not just in the heart of Paris, but drifting somewhere between the city and the legendary queer enclave of Fire Island in New York.
Staged at the Bourse de Commerce , the grand art palace and crown jewel of Kering 's Pinault family in the French capital, the show paid tribute to Yves Saint Laurent's own history of escape and reinvention.
Star power in the front row, including Francis Ford Coppola, Rami Malek, Aaron and Sam Taylor-Johnson, and house icon Betty Catroux, underscored the label's magnetic pull.
Oversized shorts, boxy trenches, and blazers with extended shoulders riffed on an iconic 1950s photo of Saint Laurent in Oran, but they were reframed for a new era of subtle, coded sensuality. Flashes of mustard and pool blue popped against an otherwise muted, sandy palette - little jolts of longing beneath the surface calm.
Yet what truly set this collection apart was its emotional honesty. Vaccarello, often praised for his control and polish, confronted the idea of emptiness head-on.