Celine S/S 2023
In the Celine held by Hedi Slimane, you can also see Hedi Slimane's "transplant flowers and trees". At the just-passed 2023 Spring and Summer Show, many people exclaimed-the Hedi Slimane of the past has been back! At this time, Celine and Saint Laurent completely became "two brands".
Since the two brands have "parted ways", it means that they have been "together". At the first show that Hedi Slimane left Saint Laurent and Anthony Vaccarello just took charge, people had expectations for him because if they wanted to re-accept people in front of designers with such obvious style, they would either "reversal" like Virgil Abloh and Clare Waight Keller. Of course, the ending could be a hit or a "fall to the bottom"; or they would live under the "shadow" of the previous designer and become a "puppet", but they would not be awakened one day, which would make people feel shocked.
Saint Laurent S/S RTW 2017
Anthony Vaccarello took the latter path at the beginning. In the first show of ready-to-wear in the spring and summer 2017, although many of the designs were similar to the Yves Saint Laurent period, most people's attitude towards watching the full show was "Have Saint Laurent changed designers?" This may not only be a question from people in the circle, but even laymen will say after seeing it, isn’t this the same style as Hedi Slimane?
So, when Hedi Slimane took charge of Celine and changed the decoration of offline stores together, people were even more confused about them, because the decoration styles of the two brands were similar. You seemed to have an illusion of entering Saint Laurent when you went to Celine. Perhaps it was not just the decoration styles similar, but you would even feel that the two brands were "twins".
But now, Celine has become younger. Not only has it found Lisa, one of the most popular idols of young people, but it has also turned the overall style of the brand into a young . Hedi Slimane, which was the dark rock in the past, has transformed it into a light dark rock in the young people. On the other hand, Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello completely abandoned the shadow of Hedi Slimane, and turned to the that suits him best, making Saint Laurent the few traditional brand in the fashion circle today, or "real" success.
From a market perspective, Anthony Vaccarello's approach is undoubtedly a "dead road". Taking the opposite route from the most popular trend culture today means that you will lose the market for most young consumers. Similarly, the brand's returns will be greatly reduced; but from a overall perspective, Saint Laurent is like an extremely smart "military advisor". When all brands are throwing their arms towards trend culture, I want to be the one who knows there is a tiger in the mountains but is on the way to the tiger mountain. Looking at the entire fashion circle now, isn’t Saint Laurent the “most beautiful retrograde”?
"Rare Traditional Fashion"
Saint Laurent F/W RTW 2015 by Hedi Slimane
In the early days of Anthony Vaccarello's head of Saint Laurent, people's evaluation of his works was "living in the shadow of Hedi Slimane". There are many designers who want to become Hedi Slimane, but how many people can really become Hedi Slimane? It seems that there is not a single one yet. Even after Hedi Slimane's Kris Van Assche did a little similar to him, Kris Van Assche also made a different style, leaving his own mark in the history of the Dior men's clothing line.
So it is not difficult to see that it is not a clear choice to follow Hedi Slimane's old path. On the one hand, the general environment does not allow it. When trend culture is the dominant , not embracing trend culture itself means that it is contrary to mainstream aesthetics, which means that the brand is likely to face a lower-yield future; on the other hand, there is only one Hedi Slimane. Even if it is similar to it, people will only remember his name. If the imitator does not have his own characteristics and under the premise that Hedi Slimane has not retired, why do people buy "authentic" but instead buy a "platform product" in the huge fashion circle?
Givenchy F/W 2018 Couture by Clare Waight Keller
Anthony Vaccarello's cleverness is largely because of "Retrieve the traditional fashion lost in this era" . The biggest difference between him and Clare Waight Keller is the difference in time. In Clare Waight Keller, he brought back Riccardo When Tisci lost traditional fashion, it did not continue to serve in this fashion castle because it was "very popular but not popular", which is a bit regrettable for the entire fashion industry.
Return to the Clare Waight Keller's Givenchy time node happens to be the subculture led by Demna Gvasalia's Vetements and Balenciaga and the subsequent trendy culture of Virgil Abloh have just arrived in the fashion circle. At present, people are already accustomed to the existence of these two "outdoor forces", so they are not unfamiliar with them. At that time, people were very curious about them because of the novelty, so that traditional fashion could be said to have fallen into darkness at that time. Therefore, from another perspective, Clare Waight Keller can be said to be a designer who is not very lucky from the perspective of our traditional Chinese culture.
Saint Laurent S/S RTW 2018
Anthony Vaccarello is different. He seems to be the one favored by God. In today's relatively stable fashion circle, traditional fashion is still a vulnerable group in the circle after several storms. The brands that still choose traditional fashion seem to have no more well-known brands joining except for the more old-school brands, and Saint Laurent is one of the very few brands.
What he brought to the brand now is not the traditional fashion we were familiar with in the past, but the traditional fashion of in line with the development of the modern era . This does not mean that his traditional fashion is not tasty enough. On the contrary, you can find from his works in recent seasons that his design for contemporary traditional fashion has gradually become perfect. This can be seen from the sales volume that the brand's sales in five years have more than doubled, and its revenue rose by 46% last year to 2.52 billion euros, a 10-fold gap compared with 10 years ago.
Saint Laurent S/S 2023
Can only say that Anthony Vaccarello's "sober" node happens to be the time when the market is stabilizing subculture and trendy culture. His leading Saint Laurent to return to high-end fashion also allows people to re-see the traditional fashion of the new era, but his traditional fashion does not lose the French fashion style founded by Yves Saint Laurent, which may be the reason why people like Saint Laurent more and more now.
You can even see Anthony Vaccarello's intentions from the site selection in the spring and summer of 23. Marrakech is the city that Yves Saint Laurent loved during his lifetime, because many of his inspirations came from the local area, and the place also has a museum and many former residences. So, from a different perspective, Anthony Vaccarello's move this time brought rare traditional fashion back to people's vision, and he was more proficient every time. Does anyone still not understand the principle that things are rare as expensive? Then, Saint Laurent's "return to the future" is an inevitable result to a certain extent.
"The Embarrassment of Traditional Fashion"
One of the representatives of mountain culture White Mountaineering X Uniqlo
If the success of Saint Laurent is an inevitable result, what does this necessarily mean? To put it another way, Saint Laurent's success is not only a "return to the sky" of traditional fashion, but also a sorrow of traditional fashion. Since the development of fashion, Traditional fashion has always been the "foundation" of fashion development . In the past, fashion was far away from people. It was not a toy for the public, but just a enjoyment of the rich.
However, with the development of life, trendy culture, subculture, mountain culture and other fields have gradually emerged. In the early days, they did not affect the status of traditional fashion. They were just branches on branches. For most people's lives, it seemed like several more choices. It is estimated that they would have such a great impact on people's lives as they are now. Perhaps, the decline of traditional fashion is "traceable".
Saint Laurent F/W RTW 1965 by Yves Saint Laurent
Since traditional fashion is a carnival for a small number of people and wealthy people, it means that traditional fashion is not a "down-to-earth" thing, but the problem is that the carrier of clothing is people, and clothing is one of the essential items we go out every day, which means that fashion is "must" down-to-earth, but traditional fashion is not like this, so the word and phenomenon of fast fashion was born. People have found their fantasy of traditional fashion in fast fashion. The same is true for the White Mountaineering, Off-White, Vetements and other brands we see are actually just rare in this field. Their pricing is the most attractive point in itself. People will think that since you are not traditional fashion, where do you get the courage to "challenge" with traditional fashion using pricing? When a brand appears, people may find it strange and it will not affect the dominance of traditional fashion, but when waves of brands appear, the status of traditional fashion will naturally be affected.
Off-White X Church's
So, when more and more brands choose to abandon traditional fashion, and even the top brands are gradually abandoning it, the embarrassing thing about traditional fashion is that it is no longer the world and the current situation is extremely difficult to return to the past spring days, which may even fall into a more difficult situation in the future. You can find a Saint Laurent in the current fashion circle, but the problem is that you can find N Off-White in the fashion circle.
Anthony Vaccarello's Saint Laurent was like a unique star in our era shining in the fashion circle. Of course, we cannot guarantee that this star can always shine, but at least in recent years, we have personally felt what Anthony Vaccarello wants to express, and we still have corresponding expectations for traditional fashion.
"A letter to traditional fashion"
and ChanelChanelSaint Laurent F/W RTW 2021
If you look back at Anthony Vaccarello's performance in recent seasons, in addition to feeling his practice of traditional fashion makes perfect, you can even feel that his works in recent seasons are like a letter to traditional fashion. This letter does not give you a momentary feeling like fast food, but a letter that requires you to slowly reminisce about the little things in it so that you can truly understand what he means.
Although some people still criticize Anthony Vaccarello's designs are quite similar to Hedi Slimane's, more people have seen his "persistence" of traditional fashion . This persistence is more like the reason why Saint Laurent can stand out among many traditional fashion brands. Brands such as Christian Dior, Fendi, Valentino, etc. are all white moonlights in the original traditional fashion field, but for more or less reasons, people's views on them are a little shaken, and now Saint Laurent will inevitably join this white moonlight.
Saint Laurent F/W RTW 2022
Anthony The traditional fashion made by Vaccarello is more like a kind of with French style . It is different from the current mainstream aesthetic fashion, such as Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Celine, etc. on social media. These brands are undoubtedly the "media pets" on social media, but you can see Saint on social media Laurent's shadows are far less frequent than they come, but they can give people a strong impression in their hearts, which is more confident for brands than being famous for designing a variety of popular products.
For Anthony Vaccarello and Saint Laurent, the turning point is undoubtedly the 2022 autumn and winter series under the Eiffel Tower in Paris on March 8 this year. He took inspiration from Yves Saint Laurent himself, plus the retro flavor of the 1970s. This is the first time that people have expressed their heartfelt praise to Anthony Vaccarello after he took charge of Saint Laurent. Perhaps for Anthony Vaccarello, this praise may have even been waiting for 6 years.
Saint Laurent S/S 2023
But then again, Yves Saint Laurent himself is limited to a certain extent, whether it is his experience or work. Anthony Vaccarello's combination of his things into contemporary aesthetics and traditional fashion is definitely a suitable route for Saint Laurent for the brand, but how to make his own style rather than "source of inspiration" from beginning to end is a very important point in this era.
People like Daniel Lee, Kris Van Assche, Kim Jones, Jonathan Anderson and others also have examples of drawing inspiration from the past, but in the subsequent process of efforts, their most unique styles appeared among different brands. In the era of endless inspiration, and because of the development of technology, many inspirations have broken through the limitations of distance, and the competitiveness has changed qualitatively compared to the past, and this is the brand that society wants and needs. It has gained a new look of the brand in a healthy competition. Saint Laurent is the "winner" of this round, but it does not guarantee that it can always be a winner.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-