You Do You Anthony

Confidence is a word I use a lot when working with creative directors, and I loved Anthony Vaccarello’s singular vision for YSL. It showed an unwavering confidence in what he wanted to project for the season.

Some may feel a little short-changed by his decision to omit the usual, more rounded approach to a runway presentation. The classic kicking off with outerwear, which moves into tailoring, followed by daywear, building to a crescendo of editorial-worthy evening looks.

Runway presentations for some are a distillation of an idea, not always about presenting the full picture. In the case of YSL, you can bet the buyers in the showroom will still get a fully considered range with all the necessary highs and lows you’d expect to peak customers interests. I’m thinking Le Smoking, leather, denim... And let’s not forget Saint Laurent can shift a ton of non-apparel.

So who cares what he decides to puts down the runway?

I would say that singular visions can sometimes prove challenging for multi-brand stores competing for customer attention, as when you only have a finite amount of aesthetic choices to choose from, it makes it that little bit harder to differentiate your edit from one of your competitors.

But mega-brands like YSL are increasingly run on a concession based model, so the topic of differentiation becomes slightly irrelevant, as ultimately they will control a consistent message throughout all their sales channels.

Which ever way you’re leaning, I thought the show was great, and if you want 25% of your runway presentation to be 13 versions of the same jumpsuit (I counted), then go for it. You do you Anthony 😎