Standing on Giant Shoulders
Review of Saint Laurent Fall 2025 Fashion Show
By Mark Wittmer
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Archival. Vibrant. Striking. Simplistic. Redundant.
The final show of Paris’ Fall 2025 season sees Anthony Vaccarello continue his streak of historical reference at Saint Laurent, channeling design moments from the house’s past into his slick and haughty vision of luxury. But in doing so he also continues one of the critical issues that has faced this direction: feeling out of touch with today, and in particular with the needs of contemporary women.
Ironically, Vaccarello’s tenure has been characterized by a major push to extend the brand’s cultural connections, like launching a film production arm and opening its first bookstore. Just in the past few weeks, the house refurbished a Paris location with a high-end sushi restaurant (the first Sushi Park location outside of Los Angeles) then collaborated with Danish electronics company Bang & Olufsen to reissue an iconic turntable.
With this multiplicity of contemporary cultural initiatives in mind, it’s perhaps surprising that Vaccarello continues to turn inward and away from reality.
Opened with a vibrant series of early-70s-inspired sherbet and jewel tones, the collection is characterized by broad shoulders, a lightly cinched waist, and a hemline just above the knee. It’s a silhouette that feels right for YSL, and the idea of a tailored jacket worn as a dress or a pencil skirt and blouse combo given a more “masculine” sense of power is very Yves. The closing looks, which featured leather jackets worn over dresses with a low waistline that ballooned into bouncing skirts with a hypnotic sense of motion, formed a particularly striking silhouette.
But the cut-and-paste repetition of silhouettes was redundant, and the collection was very simply styled – two key facets that made it all the more glaring that so many of the pieces feel, for the most part, restrictively unwearable.
THE DIRECTION
The repetitive, archival simplicity of the collection wasn’t helped by the straightforward show production, nor by Vaccarello’s continued insistence on always using the same archetype of model: ultra-thin and aloof.
THE WRAP UP
Vaccarello’s huge respect for the house’s founder is palpable, and he does do strong work each season to celebrate Yves Saint Laurent’s vision and craft. But is that enough – especially when it only produces four familiar silhouettes? Call it purity of vision or call it a lack of inspiration, the simplicity of styling and presentation didn’t help to flesh out the reality of the collection. Even beauty, it seems, can be boring.
