Just weeks after presenting an incredible menswear collection, Saint Laurent is back in action to kick off Paris Fashion Week with a collection fit for the office of our dreams. For the house’s Fall/Winter Ready-to-Wear 2023 show, we’re immersed in Anthony Vaccarello’s visions and the power of elegance, where office staples are reimagined to exact their full potential.
Reminiscent of ‘80s-era workwear, Vaccarello admitted he took inspiration from the audacious costumes of Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver in the 1988 film Working Girl. Set in a time when female ambition was painted by the sharpness of her shoulders and the point of her stilettos, the collection oozed power with each look taught with intention, giving you the feeling that these models had places to be.
There was fine pinstriped tailoring and thick, boxy outerwear, structured and dramatic, paired with silky draped layers and sheer pieces. Shoulders were exaggerated with padding or shrugged off under oversized leather bombers and chunky wool stoles while legs extended under knee-length skirts or silhouetted by slim-fit riding pants — making a great case for the forgetting of low-rise anything. Tartan, tweed and velvet made appearances in the form of blazers, skirt suit sets, LBDs and fluid blouses — channelling the drama of ‘80s fashion with a flair that would certainly make the great Yves sing.
Accessories were minimal but made an impact: thick hoops, sheer hosiery and opaque gloves — made all the more slick with polished back hair and celebrity-sized Aviators. Patent slingback pumps in alluring dark tones not only elongated legs and drew the eyes further in but set a sense of occasion.
“I really wanted to bring that idea of being dressed,” said Vaccarello.
But as luxe as the collection was, these opulent details were anchored — as always with Saint Laurent — by a functional sensuality. Models aren’t overwhelmed by fabric and oversized silhouettes or shown off under sheer or plunging tops. Instead, emphatic tailoring juxtaposes with low-low necklines and belted shift skirts with daring splits intimate a controlled vision of focus, empowerment and dynamism distinctive to the modern woman. And in a time far from one envisioned in Working Girl, with casual Fridays and unbridled capitalism, when still so many of our basic freedoms are being stripped, this showing of refined strength and immense capability hits differently.
Below, some of our favorite looks from the Saint Laurent Fall/Winter 2023 Ready-to-Wear collection.
