First girl out was Edie Campbell, who sulked and stomped her way down the runway wearing a spangled mini with eighties shoulders, patent ankle boots, a Mod shag, black winged eyeliner, and an expression of supreme indifference.
Hedi Slimane seemed to have had fun rifling through the YSL archives, and riffing on some random looks—like an East Village or Williamsburg hipster pulling pieces from a well-curated local vintage store to wear to a rave that night. Finds?
A dress in that classic Rive Gauche lip print, from Saint Laurent’s notorious 1940s redux collection at the turn of the seventies, perhaps? Or a crazy eighties gown in pewter or golden lamé, like the ones once so beloved of Catherine Deneuve and a slew of Middle-Eastern glamazons? Why not slice the hem super-short—preferably at an acute angle—and pair it with one of those low-heeled ankle boots, or a Memphis color-block stiletto and a Lurex pop sock?
There might have been a Desperately Seeking Susan vibe to the show that suggested an eighties debutante shopping at Trash and Vaudeville, or perhaps Kensington Market in London, but try as he might, Hedi can’t disguise the fact that there are some very classy and beautifully made pieces lurking beneath his antic styling.
An emaciated biker’s jacket in butter-soft leather, for instance, or mannish suitings used for jackets with a Bryan Ferry swagger—that could be shrugged over a bubblegum-pink ra-ra frock, or a matching pant cut lean as a cigarillo. Razor-sharp tuxedoes or Mess jackets with a lean lapel and a drainpipe pant also evoked the precision men’s tailoring with which Hedi made his name, tapped the DNA of this house, and are sure to delight pan-generational fans.
