Alexander Fury unpacks Anthony Vaccarello’s “quietly spectacular” collection
Let’s talk about the clothes, shall we? Shoulders were emphatic – because the Saint Laurent shoulder was a thing, perfected by its namesake and some of the best tailors in fashion’s history, formed in the mid-70s, inspiring the entire silhouette of the 80s. Here it was perfectly pitched, neither too hefty nor too high, on coats and jackets shrugged senselessly over those sinuous, sinuous silk dresses, tumbling down the legs. Hands were thrust deep into pockets.
There were gestures to Nancy Cunard, the cruise liner heiress. She used to wear bangles stacked up her arms, and sinuous dresses delineating an asparagus-thin body, so they were there too.
Currently, six museums in Paris are staging an entirely unprecedented simultaneous exhibition, juxtaposing Yves Saint Laurent couture pieces alongside the artworks that inspired them. It is a measure of his standing in French culture that these institutions banded together to pay tribute to his genius. It's the kind of homage that could easily overwhelm a designer, twist their arm into paying their own homages. Vaccarello, however, went another way.