Italian Horror Meets French Opulence in Saint Laurent's Summer 2021 Collection Short Film
Never one for the traditional, Anthony Vaccarello's new project with director Gaspar Noé captures Saint Laurent's Spring/Summer 2021 collection in a dream-like short film that blends disco-era sounds and Italian horror film themes of the '70s—known as giallo—under the all-encompassing cultural aesthetic of the brand's roots in 1960's Paris.
"Summer of '21" commences with a woman (Aylah Mae Peterson) being chased through the woods as a SebastiAn remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" blares behind her screams. She makes her way into a nearby home, where an aging beauty (Charlotte Rampling) is preparing to take the stage. As she wanders through the mansion, she stumbles upon a brood of models as they oscillate between strutting and lounging around an opulent salon.
The piece follows up Vaccarello and Noé's "Lux Æterna" project starring Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, which premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
As for the collection itself, Vaccarello diverted from the customary Paris Fashion Week schedule and instead held his show in mid-December, sans runway. Models marched through the desert of North Africa fashioned in dark frocks that embodied a melangé of British and American punk style with more feminine bourgeois wardrobes circa 1960's France.
