The show was set in the desert

At some point during 2020, we all inevitably felt a little bit deserted in our domestic paradise. It was a mixed emotion: that almost agoraphobic feeling of losing your life structure contrasted by the safe and cozy frames of your own home, with nowhere to go. Anthony Vaccarello captured that ambivalence in a Saint Laurent show set atop a Saharan sand ridge, models trotting through the dunes – going through the motions – in this soothing yet abandoned desert landscape (nodding, of course, to the Algerian roots of Yves Saint Laurent).

It was phygicality at its core

The show touched on pretty much every theme conceived in 2020. Presented digitally, the cinematography merged the realms of physical and digital in a how-did-they-do-it filmic exercise that would have made for an excellent virtual reality experience. Vaccarello was the first designer to cancel his October Paris Fashion Week appointment, announcing in a statement last summer that he preferred to present his Saint Laurent collection at the right time, in the right way. This was his phygital Xanadu.

Anthony Vaccarello said it was about serenity

“I wanted to focus on the essence of things. I think it’s a sign of the times. But I didn’t want anything bleak or heavy,” Vaccarello commented. He titled the collection “I Wish You Were Here”, playing at once on the beautiful landscape and the separation that’s become a reality for us all. “The desert, to me, symbolises that yearn for serenity, open space, a slower rhythm. The clothes are also softer, the spirit of the collection is more gentle, stripped back.”

It made the case for comfort dressing

Comfort-wear has been fashion’s great lockdown epiphany, and it was for Vaccarello, too. Adapted to his strict, skimpy, often so evening-y lines, it was a nice experiment. Based on a “thick jersey” from the 1960s drawer in Yves’ archives, he drew a parallel between tumultuous times past and present, and how those experiences increase a desire to envelope your body in a comfy kind of self-protection. Vaccarello evoked his typical tight silhouette through these tactile materials and adorned them with plumed trims, lace collars and rosettes – Zoom dressing a la Saint Laurent.

Nightwear-as-daywear is here to stay

Cycling shorts felt like an honest take on the way we’ve actually been dressing in lockdown – sportswear – and hasn’t 2020 been all about authenticity? For those who spent entire days in pyjamas or even underwear in the spring, Vaccarello made an even bigger case for that sentiment in a series of night dresses, negligees and house gowns that would have made lockdown look like a classic pin-up postcard.