A productive tension between temperamental opposites has been a hallmark of Saint Laurent since the house's founding by a pair of distinct personalities - an aesthete hungry for new experiences and a steady literary mastermind. For Saint Laurent Winter 2025 menswear, creative director Anthony Vaccarello highlights this innate duality.
Contrast defines the collection, as counterintuitive elements inject surprising fluidity into concise tailoring. Inspired by the classic wardrobe introduced by Yves Saint Laurent in his Haute Couture or Rive Gauche collections and by the spirit of Robert Mapplethorpe, a menacing, seductive elegance informs both the silhouette as well as individual pieces. Throughout, unexpected pairings render the brand's signature ambiguity novel, evident in the way ample feather-trimmed coats and sharp double-breasted jackets shift in character once intrepidly accessorised with high wader-like leather boots.
The prevailing polarity - between somber and light, soft and firm, voluminous and tapered - extends to the set: for the occasion, the minimalist lines and cool surfaces of the Bourse de Commerce are juxtaposed with rich, weathered parquet flooring that evokes the opulent salons of the past, as do enormous crystal chandeliers - a nod to the Intercontinental Hotel's ballroom, where the house presented its Haute Couture collections between 1975 and 2001.
