Review of Saint Laurent Summer 2021 #YSL39 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello with Director/Photographer Juergen Teller with models Aylah Mae Peterson, Alma Corbic, Sihana Shalaj, Laiza de Moura, Mica Arganaraz, Liya Kebede, Mika Schneider, Assa Baradji, Alyda Grace Carder, Anja Rubik, & Kiki Willems
Saint Laurent unveils a new campaign for Summer 2021 which artfully celebrates fashion’s power to reach across time. Channeling Helmut Newton’s classic work for the house, photographer Juergen Teller creates a modern yet timeless vision of Parisian chic.
Teller’s imagery seems to draw on legendary photographer Helmut Newton’s work for Yves Saint Laurent in the ’70s, particularly his iconic “Le Smoking” image and location shoots around Paris.
When Saint Laurent unveiled his women’s tuxedo in 1966, it was a radically different vision of femininity from that of the little black dress, which had previously dominated the scene. But this new vision of the feminine really became immortal in 1975, when French Vogue published Newton’s black-and-white photograph of a woman with short, slicked-back hair wearing the suit and smoking a cigarette in an unassuming Parisian alleyway. To this day, that iconography still feels like the epitome of chic.
With a distinctly modern approach, Teller’s imagery taps into this timeless sense of effortless, smoldering cool.
Though creative director Anthony Vaccarello’s designs have largely transcended the suit/dress dichotomy, they still attest to his forebearer’s vision of a powerful and unflinching femininity. Clad in Vaccarello’s new collection, which balances voyeuristic revelation with concealing, structural strength, Teller’s muses seem to embody the diversity and determination of a distinctly modern woman.
Shooting in color, Teller captures these women against the ever-changing face of Paris. He seeks out places in transition: construction sites, shipping yards, river banks. Emblems of the city’s history contrast boldly with contemporary developments; medieval cobblestone merges with crumbling concrete. Industrial artifacts imitate objects of art.
Standing resolutely before these shifting scenes, our models recall Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic maxim that while fashions fade, style is eternal. By balancing a keen awareness of what makes a moment in fashion timeless with a recognition that life itself is constant change, the campaign forms a beautiful statement of art’s liberating power to reach across time.
Saint Laurent Creative Director | Anthony Vaccarello
Director/Photographer | Juergen Teller
Models | Aylah Mae Peterson, Alma Corbic, Sihana Shalaj, Laiza de Moura, Mica Arganaraz, Liya Kebede, Mika Schneider, Assa Baradji, Alyda Grace Carder, Anja Rubik, & Kiki Willems
Location | Paris