WORKING OVERTIME
Written By: Lauren Cunningham
Saint Laurent’s cuffing season extends into spring with fine and dandy silhouettes that put a fresh spin on power dress. It’s time to follow suit…
Sexy yet complex was the message from the muse of Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent Women’s Summer ‘25 show, as models gave ‘corpcore’ a new meaning of chic. Extra-large shoulder pads provided sharp shapes to suits, striped shirts sat behind straight ties, and oversized leather jackets added an air of cool sophistication that many of us can only dream of exuding. Yet, if you only paid attention to the second half of the show, you would have seen something else entirely – and this was all part of Vaccarello’s vision.
“The relevance of Saint Laurent clothes is distilled from the independent attitude of the woman who wears them,” reads the Saint Laurent show notes. Noting the two different aesthetics of the chic muse, “her contradictions reflect Yves Saint Laurent’s own persona, in which artful sophistication coexisted with instinctual desire”. And it’s these contradictions that made the show so exciting. Well, that and the fact it was set inside the French fashion House’s historic courtyard encased in a golden frieze.
Speaking only of the suited and booted, this part of the collection pays homage to Yves Saint Laurent’s own way of dressing, even down to his signature glasses, with fluid suits and coats layered over blazers, contrasting colors and textures with the classic two- piece. While oversized suiting styling has been around for some time, Vaccarello’s version makes the masculine look seem much more seductive, with small styling tweaks that pick up on the personality of the modern muse. Shirt cuffs fold back over coat sleeves, bangles are built up on both wrists, and she’s rarely seen without a great pair of shades. If you’re in need of more inspo, take a look at Michelle Pfeiffer’s most recent campaign for the Maison – never did a suit look so chic.
The second half shows a different side of the same character, with big billowing skirts, deeply cut necklines, and a strong feminine feel peeking out in between this alluring work persona, until we see only models in bright, bold mini skirts and shiny brocade jackets. Although almost all of the personal styling elements mentioned above still hold a place in every look – bangles bring bohemian attention to both wrists, each outfit leans into clever layering, and our muse absolutely dresses with full focus on structure. “These ensembles echo the vibrant garments often seen in the works of painters the House founder cherished,” share the show notes, adding insight into the inspiration.
Courtesy of Saint Laurent
Courtesy of Saint Laurent
Courtesy of Saint Laurent
Courtesy of Saint Laurent
Courtesy of Saint Laurent
Courtesy of Saint Laurent
But it’s not all fun and flounce, oh no. Leather jackets and strong sunglasses add the edge for which Saint Laurent is so famous, proving the muse’s sense of style may shift yet never totally change. She’s simply, shall we say, out of the office. This muse is multi-faceted, after all.
Yet, where she came from is the key question. “As Yves Saint Laurent could have said, I am the Saint Laurent woman,” explains the show notes, highlighting how both the founder and the huge number of women he and the House have encountered over the last 63 years have all played a part in making the Saint Laurent muse. Plenty of these women are actually the models who walked the Spring-Summer ‘25 show, selected for their fierce feminine personalities that are “integral to the Saint Laurent universe”. So much so, in fact, all of the looks were named after important women to the House, including the likes of Betty, Amalia, Dovima, and Lou. Now, if we could only work out a way to get onto that list…
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