YSL’s Art Director Anthony Vaccarello appears to have broken with the brand’s tradition of looking back to its heritage for inspiration, and instead, explores a fresh aesthetic with eyes firmly focused to a brighter future. To get his message across, he borrows from Hollywood’s action film genre.
The centrepiece of the YSL Spring Summer 2021 presentation is the short-film titled “No Matter How Long The Night Is,” directed by Nathalie Canguilhem with the soundtrack by SebastiAn. It not only presents YSL’s SS21 collection but is also meant to be an inspiration for a world held hostage by the COVID19 pandemic. “Breathing, reaching the horizon, looking at the future, no matter how long the night is,” declared the press note accompanying the film, and sets the bold, positive mood for the collection.
Vaccarello presents a collection that seems liberated from the restrictions of an overarching theme. They are unified, however, by their clean and straight cut silhouettes, which give the clothes a light and airy look. Black and white anchor the palette, contrasted by a burst of natural tones in floral or leafy patterns.
Highlights include a black wool flare coat paired with slim-cut wool pants and black leather boots, a jacquard one-button suit in white combined with a black and white polka dots shirt, a brown leather bomber jacket featuring black leaf patterns, a cropped black wool crepe blazer over a cotton stripe tee-shirt and cigarette pants, a white sleeveless cotton shirt with a pair of black pants, a short sleeve floral print black western shirt is worn with black pants and black leather belts, or a black on white floral patterned blouson with black slim-cut pants.
The artisanal pride of place for this collection has to be the use of feathers: a velvet-ish blouson made from cut feathers of different colours that are embroidered on silk; or an evening jacket that resembles crushed velour but made from fine feathers arrayed into a floral-ish pattern.
The mood of the individual pieces or combinations are neither formal, nor casual, nor streetwear, but have elements of all three. One can mix and match to get the desired look; whether it be for an outdoor dinner party, for a night out, or a cup of brew with friends.
