Dior and Saint Laurent: Twilight of the Gods?

PARIS – Far be it from me to analyze the designer’s psyche, but both Maria Grazia Chiuri at Dior and Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent seemed to be responding to a dark world with their latest collections. Consider them coping strategies. This certainly added a certain weight to the work.

Chiuri’s focus was on Paris in the 1950s, when Technicolor Audrey Hepburn appeared at the boho Left Bank jazz club “Funny Face,” he wanted us to see like Hollywood, but in black and white, a post-war city of existentialists (or neo-realists, in Chiuri’s Italy). . Digging through Dior’s archives, she saw how the New Look’s first burst of optimism contrasted with the dark, gloomy monochromes of the punk era. In beatnik chanteuse Juliette Greco (a Dior client) and Edith Piaf, the iconic “Little Sparrow,” she found human relatives whose fearlessness and unpredictability made her the French equivalent of Judy Garland. Completing the Chiuri Trio inspirations was Christian Dior’s sister Catherine, a French Resistance fighter and concentration camp survivor who was assisted by her post-war success as a florist.

These strong women have fought, suffered and survived – just like millions of women are doing now – and Chiuri has shown a huge collection of clothes that reflect all of that. It was a lot, but maybe that was the point. As the figures passed by in a steady procession, their dull beauty became an eager balm for the soul, and the details began to assert themselves: the way the back of the jacket floated off the body, the pleated crop, the surprisingly attractive embroidered leather straps, the crumpled argyle-patterned mohair sweater and skirt inside. Hanging on a branch (The blurred, shimmering floral effect of 18th-century Lyon, once a district of silk weavers), the embellished straw and dried flowers worn by the latest models…weaved with metal thread, so the pieces retain a sense of memory. They look worn but elegant, like dear old favorites in tough times. And, since this is Dior, after all, the fabrics were the fine works of Moir, duchesse satin, Pied de Polo, the first stock of the Christian trade.

He felt that Chiuri was above all. French A collection she’s worked on since her debut at Dior seven years ago, but it’s very Italian in its precise construction. Also at this time, artist service Joana Vasconcelos from Portugal as a fashion atelier studio said she was more into her own process than any of her collaborators. The show took place in a giant visceral cocoon created by Vasconcellos from floral patterned fabrics found in the Dior archives. It was a tribute to Catherine Dior that flowers saved her from a living hell. Bernard Arnott’s bottomless pockets were one more testament to his ability to write, that hard times were doomed. At the end of the show, Piaf’s tremulous vocals rang out. “Moi, don’t be sorry Rien.” Indeed.

I can say the same about Saint Laurent. The first fashion show I saw in Paris was It’s the YSL couture show in 1987 at the Hotel Intercontinental Ballroom. (I’ll always remember the day I met Nan Kempner.) On Tuesday night, as I walked into Saint Laurent’s usual place, the Pharaoh’s Pavilion built into the Eiffel Tower, I was overcome with déjà vu. It was a low catwalk intercontinental redux, lit by a string of giant gilt chandeliers. Saint Laurent chief Anthony Vaccarello insists he wanted something more intimate after last season’s spectacular show around the falls, but intimacy is clearly a moving party as today’s fashion billionaires begin their fattening spree.

And, in fact, Saint Laurent’s stunning mise-en-scene made an even more interesting point. Saint Laurent is not just a name or a look. In 1987, for example, the Intercontinental Ballroom is an example of the time, place, and location. It’s history. Maria Grazia Chiuri spoke about the vintage map of Paris she used as a scarf print for Dior’s final ready-to-wear show. She was impressed that Christian Dior’s couture salon on Avenue Montaigne was put on the map alongside the museums and monuments that have always defined the city to the world.

If Vaccarello’s collection didn’t exactly make history, it was a more concrete acknowledgment of the present than he’s shown lately. As usual, he elaborated on a message in the show, which can be summed up in power dressing. He listed the categories: minimal, classic, clean, basic clothing, a response to the greatness of last season. “No tra-la-la, no styling.” The models’ hair is uniformly tight, small heads are arranged. All aviators wear and empty the individual. The shoulders of the jacket were surprisingly wide and straight (they required a completely new construction), sometimes in classic menswear, sometimes in leather, on simple silk tanks and Dress dress, tailored dress or elastic. It was a serious look unleavened by evening wear. Vaccarello thought this was probably reflective of the fact that he found it difficult to make the set due to lack of time. That’s why it can be complementary, liquid softness on the transparency of muslin dresses, or blanket-like blouses, which cover the body or float like long trains.

If Chiuri adopted Juliette Greco and Edith Piaf as arche-parisiennes in the 1950s, Vaccarello chose Saint Laurent standard-bearer Catherine Deneuve as his counterpart in the 1990s. Her film career in that decade is food for thought. There is no special appearance. Shadows gathering around the same place, all at once.