Saint Laurent closes Paris fashion week with bold statement of intent

Saint Laurent has cross-generational cool. On the last night of Paris fashion week, Kate Moss sat next to Catherine Deneuve, both in black tailoring, sheer blouses and high heels. Pedro Almodóvar and Rossy de Palma smiled for the cameras, while Hailey Bieber and Charli XCX kept their shades on.

Saint Laurent’s daytime silhouette this season is an inverted triangle, with broad shoulders narrowing to slim skirts and sheer tights. For evening, it flipped upside down, with slinky sweaters and grand ball skirts. The colours were of cocktail ring gemstones: emerald, sapphire, ruby and garnet.

There was leopard print, naturally, in silk blouses with a silicone gloss. With slicked-back hair, shards of rock crystal jewellery, hands nonchalantly in pockets – nothing so mundane as a handbag here – the models oozed aloof Parisian chic, sauntering easily in spike heels to the voice of Nina Simone.

Designer Anthony Vaccarello said before the show he wanted the look to be clean, no ornamentation, no decoration. “Simplicity of silhouette – as if created with a few pencil strokes – has defined the Saint Laurent ideal.”

Under Vaccarello, the house of Saint Laurent has its sights set bigger than fashion. Not content with being one of the leading names in style, the company has ambitions to be a cultural powerhouse. This show was moved from its usual slot at the beginning of Paris fashion week to the end to avoid a clash with the Oscars, because Saint Laurent Productions is now a fully – fledged movie studio, producing the multi Oscar-nominated Emilia Pérez.

The fate of Emilia Peréz was torpedoed halfway through award season by the disclosure of racist tweets by star Karla Sofia Gascón, but this has not deterred Saint Laurent, which has also produced Parthenope, a new film by Paolo Sorrentino. Film is seen by Saint Laurent as a platform to amplify its cool image beyond style into the broader culture, and Vaccarello recreated Yves Saint Laurent’s famous 1966 Le Smoking tuxedo jacket for the actor Celeste Dalla Porta to wear on screen. A Saint Laurent-backed project with the director Jim Jarmusch is also in the works.

Saint Laurent’s cultural ambitions are also reflected in an ambitious revamp of its Paris flagship boutique in collaboration with the Judd Foundation, which promotes the work of the late American artist Donald Judd. Furniture by Judd is for sale at the Paris store, displayed alongside Saint Laurent evening gowns and handbags, while an exhibition of Judd’s woodcuts and prints is on display on an upper floor. The house has also diversified into the restaurant industry, with the opening of a Paris branch of LA’s Sushi Park.