Fragility and strength: Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello explored both, in a provocative collection, filled with barely-there transparent clothes.

“I wanted to do something very fragile,” said the designer of his sheer pencil skirts and high neck blouses, which were made from the same material as silk stockings. Vaccarello artfully draped, gathered and ruched it into body-con dresses, or twisted it into halter tops and pussybow blouses. Look after look, he offered endless variations on stretchy sheaths. Striding on towering ankle-stap sandals through a space scented with la première essence d’Opium, they looked as fierce as they did fragile.

The looks came in smokey greens, olive, chocolate brown and deep purple, but were uniformly sheer. Some models wore boule-back jackets and fabulous leather beatnik coats over their transparent looks, others carried maribou feather jackets, but mostly, the models went bare beneath their delicate clothes. The risk of laddering only added to their dangerous appeal.

The house of YSL is no stranger to catwalk shocks. Back in 1966, the founder Yves Saint Laurent scandalised fashion when he freed the nipple with sheer dresses and blouses. Fast forward nearly sixty years and nipples are strangely banal (so many celebrities have embraced naked dressing on the red carpet) but they still have the power to shock (they remain banned on Instagram).

To make a collection almost entirely from sheer hosiery fabric is an extreme and daring choice. Vaccarello addressed the practicality of wearing such delicate wisps of fabric saying: “My job, isn’t always to do something that’s real or realistic.” He admitted he had no idea how the house might commercialise such delicate looks but spoke of his desire to create something challenging to himself and the wider fashion culture. He did just that, both confounding expectations and creating a thrilling fashion moment.

ysl.com