Color is the message

Antony Vaccarello masterfully blends Yves Saint Laurent’s 1970s aesthetic with the spirit of 1980s New York in the Saint Laurent SS2028 menswear collection, doing so with remarkable lightness and ease.

A review of this Saint Laurent collection could consist solely of the color names, their shades, compositions—burgundy, ochre, orange, lemon yellow, eau de nil, navy, cerulean blue, mushroom brown, tobacco brown—so expressive were they and so focused was the designer's attention on them. One might also include a description of a photograph of a young Yves Saint Laurent on holiday in Nigeria, standing beside a tennis net, wearing wide, cuffed shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. Indeed, that very image inpired the opening look of the collection: a loose orange shirt with broad shoulders and a matching tie, paired with chocolate-brown pleated short-shorts with turn-ups.

But if we mention shorts, we must also highlight the waistline—accentuated by a belt pulled tight to reveal the white tailoring inside the waistband. Many of the trousers followed this design. And regarding shirts, it’s worth noting that this time, Vaccarello’s signature broad shoulders could be softened: if the shoulder pads are removed, the silhouette becomes more soft and flowing. Still, a certain formality remained, thanks to the ties that accompanied nearly every look—tight, twisted, and tucked precisely at the third button from the top. The ties could be tone-on-tone or, conversely, contrasting—but the styling remained consistent.

Antony Vaccarello explains that these colors and their combinations came to him while watching an upcoming documentary about artist Larry Stanton, who died of AIDS-related complications in 1984. Vaccarello became fascinated by the entire generation of 1980s New York artists, many of whom died young for the same reason, yet lived intensely passionate and vibrant lives—much like their palettes, filled with the bright hues of that era.

As for his second reference, Vaccarello points to Yves Saint Laurent of the 1970s, a period marked by both strangeness and drama. During this time, he creaetd many of his most iconic collections while also experiencing significant personal and creative crises, which led him to distance himself from his fashion house’s affairs. Despite these challenges, this era was also his most chic, as he became a star of the Parisian club scene, often seen in broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted jackets paired with bright shirts—a silhouette mirrored in the collection’s shirts with shoulder pads and trousers cinched at the waist.

These two distinct sources of imagery and inspiration come together to create one of the most captivating and romantic Saint Laurent collections in recent years, rich with both hidden drama and overt joy. Each image and its color combinations can be given an emotional equivalent, or one can simply enjoy them through meditative contemplation.

Courtesy: Saint Laurent

Text: Elena Stafyeva