People sometimes rib PR guru Lucien Pagès for always wearing a pea coat during cold-weather fashion weeks. But on Tuesday night, he wore one by Saint Laurent and its sleek, elongated cut and light-absorbing black wool cast a different allure, free of any sailor associations and oozing that after-dark, smoky Saint Laurent vibe.
Anthony Vaccarello’s fall collection for the house cast a similar spell as his tall, slender models whisked over the chocolate brown carpet laid out at the Bourse de Commerce, their mostly black, tailored ensembles meekly lit with dusk-strength light. They looked mysterious, aloof, occasionally kinky, and very chic.
This was a masterclass in slyly sensual cutting, the sharp shoulders and suppressed waists of his X-shaped jackets seemingly more pronounced when the models were viewed from the back. Wraparound sunglasses and furry scarves wound up to the ears heightened the drama.
Vaccarello didn’t stray far from this slender, sinuous silhouette, so the eye hunted for the subtle variations. Jackets and trousers in black wool crepe and grain de poudre ultimately yielded to navy, gray and dark brown variations, with pinstripes, herringbone patterns and Prince of Wales checks nearly imperceptible.
Pants were mostly full-legged and lapping over gleaming, square-toed dress shoes, but there were some skinny variations, too.
This was an about-face from Vaccarello’s color-drenched spring Saint Laurent collection, and so he played with texture and subtle contrast, cinching a black leather coat with a brown leather belt, and throwing in the odd brown sweater with a scooped neckline, into which he tucked a cravat.
Backstage in his dim interview lodge, Vaccarello explained that a summertime read of James Baldwin’s 1956 novel “Giovanni’s Room” – a tragic romance with a gay storyline – got him inspired, and thinking, “What if I designed the costumes for the film?”
Indeed, by teaming signposts of conservative attire – topcoats, neckties and banker stripes – with boxer shorts or latex leggings, he seemed to express the main character’s internal conflict over his homosexuality.
Vaccarello oversees the subsidiary of Saint Laurent that produces feature films, and he said he “invited the person who just bought the film rights” for “Giovanni’s Room” to take in Tuesday night’s show. He hastened to add that “it’s not like I’m making the film,” though when asked if we would be interested, he replied, “I think it’s a great project.”
With Canadian TV show “Heated Rivalry” – about a secret love story between hockey players – dominating the cultural conversation, and its stars Connor Storrie and François Arnaud sitting in Saint Laurent’s front row, perhaps the time is right for Baldwin’s painful coming-out tale to finally make it to the big screen – along with some of Vaccarello’s fine and sexy threads.
