On Tuesday evening, Saint Laurent presented perhaps the most quintessentially Paris Fashion Week show, hosting press, talent, clients, and friends of the house to take in Anthony Vaccarello’s Spring/Summer 2027 collection beneath a larger-than-life ornate gold chandelier and glittering Eiffel Tower.
The setting’s opulence was not just an aesthetically pleasing choice, but rather a reflection of the clothing itself. As jazzy organ chords filled the outdoor venue, the first model appeared on the massive catwalk, sporting a gilded lamé tech jacket and matching pencil skirt. The two-piece set was made all the more dramatic by a billowing silk scarf knotted around the neck, with its excess fabric lingering behind in the wind, acting as a train.
“Nothing radiates and reflects light like gold, and it’s that single evocative color which defines Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent Summer 2027 collection,” read the show notes. “It has a long history with the house, of course, as Monsieur Saint Laurent himself adored it. ‘I love gold, it’s a magical color,’ he once said. ‘When reflecting a woman, it’s the color of the sun.’”
A slew of similar looks followed the first, with the most noticeably different detail consistently being the material’s shade of gold. Brassier yellows led the charge, while pale, faded, amber, antique, burnt, and rosy iterations appeared in a sequence of varying silhouettes. The metallic hue made up 49 of 59 total looks, a choice by Vaccarello that “allows him to explore once more the power of repetition,” the notes explain. Gold is “magical and mythical, can alchemically transform everything it touches,” they continue. “His use of gold, pervasive, hypnotic, almost obsessive, isn’t merely about ornamentation, but purpose and emotion.”
And the show was certainly emotional. The aforementioned organ soundtrack alluded to that of a funeral, and the overwhelming number of front-row celebs — such as Hailey Bieber, Zoë Kravitz, Rosé, Carla Bruni, Jerry Hall, Francis Ford Coppola, Mark Ronson, and more — were all cloaked in black, as if to mourn the end of an era. With this show marking almost 10 years to the day that Vaccarello made his creative director debut at Saint Laurent — plus the incredible magnitude of the event itself (which was designed to look like the ballroom where Saint Laurent, the designer, hosted his couture salons) — it’s not so far-fetched to infer this could have been the Belgian designer’s last with the maison.
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“A light shines all the more brightly because we know it cannot be held,” Vaccarello wrote in his notes. “What passes sometimes leaves more light than what remains.”
To call the last 10 years a golden age for Saint Laurent would be a major understatement. Since taking the helm of the label in 2016 (with his successor Hedi Slimane’s grunge glamour legacy looming over him), the now-44-year-old has crafted his own singularly recognizable look that is synonymous with both himself and modern Saint Laurent. The oversized-yet-sexy black blazer and leather capris combo that, in many ways, kickstarted Bieber’s run as a certified fashion player; the ‘80s style suiting of Spring/Summer 2025 that is a direct callback to the original couturier’s specialty; and the sequin-covered black-and-white animal-print shoulder-padded party dresses of indie sleaze moodboard dreams are all just a few examples of Vaccarello’s indisputable impact on both fashion and culture.
Many of those same pillars remain in Spring/Summer 2027, with additional signatures like funnel-neck velvet coats, cropped denim-like lamé jackets, drapey silk blouses that flow like liquid, and plisée camisoles with intricate embroideries filling out the collection.
As the final walk played out under the sparkling Paris sky, French actor and singer (and daughter of Jane Birkin, as well as muse to Vaccarello) Charlotte Gainsbourg rose from her seat, making her way to center stage for a performance of a seemingly original song — an ode to Saint Laurent and Vaccarello.
“Women smoking like loaded guns, Paris dissolving beneath the drums // She whispers slowly while the saxophone bleeds blue // You’re so much, Yves Saint Laurent,” Gainsbourg sang. “Decadence walking through the dark // Every sin dressed elegant, again // Anthony, you are so much.”
On cue, Vaccarello stepped up to the runway to take his bow alongside the cast and Gainsbourg, looking particularly stoic and prideful, if I do say so myself.
While the rumors of the designer stepping down are just that — rumors — for now, regardless of whether this will be his last presentation for the brand or merely another hit collection to add to his résumé, Vaccarello undoubtedly delivered a breathtaking, history-making show that will surely leave a significant mark on his fans, contemporaries, and the designers who follow.
Below, see more highlights from the Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2027 show.
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