Pac-a-mac panache Vaccarello gives YSL classics a daring spin

The Saint Laurent show, which opened Paris fashion week on Monday night, began with a pussy-bow blouse and ended with a ruffled dress that you could fold up, pac-a-mac style, and pop in your handbag.

- Morwenna Ferrier

The label's creative director, Anthony Vaccarello, into his 30th collection, is not known for practicality. But he can spin a story using clothes. Here, under a perfectly clear night sky in front of the Eiffel Tower, an army of "mesdames" stalked a Parisian garden dressed - by the designer's own admission - for cruising.

Not many shows could build a catwalk in the shape of the famous YSL logo using white hydrangeas, and not many designers could draw Madonna, Catherine Deneuve and Carla Bruni Sarkozy, wearing a faux-fur coat (the brand banned fur in 2022) shortly after her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, was sentenced to five years in prison.