Whether you love or loathe Hedi Slimane’s transformation of the Yves Saint
Laurent brand, you cannot deny its impact on contemporary fashion. The
house has been revived more than just economically with Slimane’s
interpretations of contemporary youth culture and is currently thriving.
Other fashion brands are not churning out the same of rate of successful
products across a variety of categories, from men’s and women’s
ready-to-wear to accessories, everything at Saint Laurent seems to fly off
the shelves.
On Monday Slimane sent a series of grunge princesses down the runway,
wearing cheap tiaras and clad in festival gear: see-through dresses,
oversized coats, denim and wellington boots. But even if it didn’t ooze
luxury, there is talent needed to make clothes feel relevant, to get the
cut, fit and fabrics just so they warrant their extortionate price tags and
don’t alienate the wearer by being a knock-off from the real thing.
Saint Laurent’s SS16 show is best summed up as a heavy touch of grunge with
inspiration from Courtney Love and Glastonbury. British model Agyness Deyn
made a rare comeback on the runway, once the postergirl of the early
noughties youth movement in London.
More than one reviewer suggested Slimane was feeling the influence of the
Vetements collective and its on-trend repurposing of everyday garments.
There were plenty of looks with silky slip dresses, pared-down trench
coats, oversized washed out denim and leather jackets. Interestingly there
were no expensively crafted shoes or bags on the runway, but you can be
assured these will appear in store next year.
Accessories may have been replaced by the grunge tiara and the welly, which
no doubt the the high street will replicate in their thousands come next
festival season.