Wednesday evening, 8:30 p.m., on the heights of Isola della Certosa, a small piece of land floating in the Venetian lagoon. The sunset light is almost unreal: its orange and purple rays, in a cloudless azure sky, are reflected in the enormous kaleidoscopic mirror structure posed there by Doug Aitken. Inside, a hundred or so guests from the Saint Laurent men's fashion show for the summer of 2022 are waiting. In the center and around this neo-futuristic octagon, lush vegetation. We hear the cicadas when, from a wasteland of pink bricks, a silhouette emerges. Thin as a thread, the blonde hair combed back. His hands in the pockets of his black silk brocade shorts suit, slipped over a frilled blouse. On the feet, patent leather derbies and lace socks.A contemporary incarnation of Tadzio by
Death in Venice
(1971).
To read also:
Anthony Vaccarello: "I had to exorcise the image I had of Saint Laurent"
Of course, this Björn Andrésen is a little more rock, with his eyes hemmed in rimmel, the shirt open to the navel on his hairless chest.
More androgynous too, in her cape-long silk shirt, perched on platforms with dizzying heels.
But how can we not think of Visconti's masterpiece, of this slender adolescent character, the fantasy of eternal youth of an old melancholy composer in a Venice damaged by cholera.
When fiction meets reality ...
Especially since, it's no secret, the retro and decadent aesthetic of the Italian filmmaker (also a fashion darling, from Karl Lagerfeld to Alessandro Michele) has always infused the universe of Mr. Saint Laurent, until 'to make it one of the decorative gimmicks of his Norman castle of Benerville-sur-Mer. For some time now, Anthony Vaccarello, current artistic director of the Parisian house, has been trying to
“exorcise the image”
of the founder ... while multiplying the nods to his creations.
"There are references to Saint Laurent's black and white evening suits from the early 1980s, to the pleated pants from 1983, to the tuxedos and short boleros from the 1969 to 1980 collections," he
explains after the show.
Day and evening pajamas, pants and dresses from 1979 and the early 1980s also inspired this flowing, light silhouette.
While emphasizing the details of the trimmings buttons, tuxedo lapels ... tunics with pirate sleeves are worn loosely, draped inside the pants, unlike Victorian buttoned tunics and ruffled shirts encircling the neck with their knots. of withered silk.
A fantasy on a black Victorian romance. ”
The Saint Laurent man for summer 2022 Saint Laurent
A highly instagrammable fantasy, convertible as is on TikTok. Among the guests, the fifteen stars of the favorite social network of Gen Z do not miss a beat. Since the day before, these barely adult boys, with millions of subscribers on the counter, have been responsible for immortalizing their wanderings in the city of the Doges, bewitching their fans through interposed screens, like connected Tadzio. In the evening, Jaden Hossler, Jackson Passaglia, Griffin Mark and the others, do not know where to give iPhone. The shimmering work of Doug Aitken multiplies this romantico-rock collection.
The result of the collaboration of the American visual artist and the French designer, the Green Lens installation will be accessible to the public until
July 31 as part of the city's Architecture Biennale.
“This project was born out of my wish to combine creative disciplines, to merge artistic visions for a unique work
,” continues Vaccarello.
This construction evokes the desire to look to the future without forgetting the past and history.
Just like this collection.
"
From Renaissance galleys to haute couture
Fashion loves nothing more than dialoguing with the art world. And Venice seems to be the perfect setting for these fertile exchanges. While the city is giving its 17th Architecture Biennale at the Arsenal, on the theme “How will we live together?”, Valentino invited himself, Thursday evening, under the brick buildings of the shipyard built in 1104, to his haute couture show. Formerly, the military and merchant fleets of the Serenissima were made there. During the Renaissance, some 16,000 workers could, if necessary, assemble a galley in one day. Several centuries later, dresses that required hundreds of hours of work are presented there. The 84 silhouettes, each more beautiful than the next, roam the pools under the pastel light of the fading day.The piano-voice of the English singer Cosima, the sound of glitter trains that collide, the sliding of taffeta ...
The Valentino Valentino Fall / Winter 2021-2022 Couture Fashion Show
For this high-end winter wardrobe, the Roman surrounded himself with seventeen artists (including eight compatriots) in order to
"recreate a community around the Valentino house, with the aim of building more than clothes and of transcribing the spirit of the work through my sensitivity,
confided Pierpaolo Piccioli in his offices in Place Vendôme two weeks ago.
I didn't want art to become the alibi for luxury derivative products, displaying reproductions of paintings, like what you find in museum shops. ”
Many are painters -
“painting is to art what sewing is to fashion.
Its most original expression. "
Contrasting with the monochrome silhouettes dear to Piccioli (in a palette of buttercup yellow, fluorescent pink, aubergine, wisteria and emerald green), the nineteen “works of art” looks are a demonstration of the excellence of the workshops. of the Roman house, with strong intarsias, inlays of sequins, micro-prints and precious fabrics. A bustier mounted on a crinoline patchwork of hands intertwined in faille, silk skin and carmine velvet, burgundy and red, Valentino is inspired by the work of Alessandro Teoldi
(our photo)
.
Some models are wearing a jellyfish hat in breathtakingly poetic feathers.
The latest outfit arrives: an opera dress with a matching drag coat in cream taffeta, whose crimson curls mimic the moving brushstrokes of British transgender artist James "Jamie" Nares.
“
When I met Jamie, his name was still James.
She was still in a period of transition.
However, from our first conversation, I understood that we had to go towards a feminine silhouette, dramatic, couture in the most classic sense of the term.
"
Opera dress with matching trainer coat in cream taffeta from Valentino Couture, whose crimson volutes mimic the moving brushstrokes of British transgender artist James "Jamie" Nares.
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