At Saint Laurent, the focus remains on nostalgia

This Fashion Week, among the designers of luxury maisons, there is a desire to shake off the rigidity of quiet luxury, to present new ideas to consumers, and to accelerate on maximalism. The problem is that, out of fear of losing the few certainties that have remained since the beginning of the sector crisis, they have started with the handbrake on. This also happened at Saint Laurent’s show last night, where a collection was presented that had a lot of enthusiasm but little innovation. Creative director Anthony Vaccarello ventured slightly beyond his comfort zone, exploring the more "dangerous" side of the maison, with bold prints and combinations that not everyone in contemporary fashion might appreciate, but at the same time he decided to stay comfortably under the dazzling shadow of the brand’s founder, Yves Saint Laurent. Among masculine tailored suits that towered over the models' shoulders, eyewear that mimicked the deep gaze of the designer and his muses in their golden years, metallic details inspired by Moroccan culture, and leather bombers, the collection was certainly solid and wearable, but completely lacked imagination. More than a test of creative writing, Saint Laurent’s SS25 was an exercise in tracing. Nostalgia, once again, triumphed over the desire to surprise.

It has been 58 years since Yves Saint Laurent presented "Le Smoking", the first women's tuxedo. Different from the male version as it was adapted to a body with more pronounced breasts and hips, the suit designed by the Algerian stylist featured a higher and tighter waistline, longer trousers, and a rounder collar. Retaining the composure and rigor of the men's suit while adding stylistic details meant to showcase the female form, Saint Laurent went down in history as one of the first designers of androgynous fashion. Last night, the tailored suits had oversized jackets with pointed shoulders, wide tailored trousers, and striped ties - but they didn't seem very adapted to the female physique. The first looks stood out from Vaccarello's previous collections for Saint Laurent for their comfort; while in past seasons the creative director tended to reveal, more or less, the female body, last night every inch of skin was hidden under the garment. The presence of Yves Saint Laurent is evident in the early designs of the collection, with references to the 80s and the reinterpretation of the women's suit, yet the uninhibited sensuality of the French designer and his favorite muses is missing: the models' waists are only accentuated by their hands, which, slipped into the jacket, lift the fabric creating a horizontal crease.

The ideal of the Saint Laurent woman is complex, writes the brand's press release: "The Saint Laurent woman loves to indulge her darker impulses, an attraction to danger and pleasure that she proudly possesses in her modern agency". In this light, the tailored suit presented by the maison at SS25 is more of a power suit than the tuxedo created by Saint Laurent in the 1960s. After a slew of oversized suits, also worn by Bella Hadid, who returned to the scene after becoming the face of the brand, boho-chic dresses down to the floor finally bring some color to the runway, with lamé, plunging necklines, and leather jackets. The jewelry becomes larger, with necklaces following the décolleté line down to the navel. With palettes echoing Yves Saint Laurent's favorite colors, who in the late 80s created similar jackets decorated with motifs inspired by Van Gogh, the collection features color clashes combining electric blue, petrol green, orange, and gold in sleeveless tops and ruffled miniskirts with lace hems peeking out. In the final looks of the collection, we see the new direction of the brand's creative leadership, though still gazing back at the past. At Saint Laurent, Vaccarello attempts to propose a new version of the brand, bolder and more vibrant, but forgets that to truly leave the comfort zone, one must abandon all remnants of nostalgia. Power suit included.