“Empowerment and Bijou”: A Dispatch From Saint Laurent SS25

TUESDAY 9:51 PM SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 PARIS

The Saint Laurent Spring-Summer 2025 collection meant business. At the brand’s HQ, Anthony Vaccarello presented his version of the founder’s “Saint Laurent Woman,” who was ultimately an extension of Yves himself. So naturally, the show began with models (including Bella Hadid, making her runway comeback) suited and booted in butchy, oversized tailoring, eyewear, and serious accessories. Halfway through, the vibe switched to a different type of Saint Laurent woman: a slightly more opulent client, wrapped in flowing lace and gold brocade. After the show, our editor-in-chief gathered all his front row friends to find out why returning to the familiar can still produce something new.

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MEL OTTENBERG: So you’re wearing the most amazing vintage Yves Saint Laurent earrings–

ELIZABETH SALTZMAN: And unlike other people, I don’t wear my sunglasses at night.

OTTENBERG: I was like, “What if I started wearing sunglasses in the front row?” It would be so funny.

SALTZMAN: Then you’d have to get a bob.

OTTENBERG: I’m not getting a bob. Can you imagine?

SALTZMAN: You’d have to. That’s who wears sunglasses at night, editors of magazines.

OTTENBERG: Well, she should, but I think some other girls should lose the sunglasses.

SALTZMAN: Icons like Anna [Wintour] and Lenny [Kravitz] can and should. 

OTTENBERG: They’re so cool.

SALTZMAN: I thought that Honey Dijon was giving us a bit of a “Wintour” bob.

OTTENBERG: Yeah, I think her bob looks really great and I was just ecstatically complimenting her on it. Are you wearing “no makeup” makeup?

SALTZMAN: I don’t wear any makeup

OTTENBERG: You don’t wear any makeup? You’re so fierce. And you don’t have any Botox?

SALTZMAN: No.

OTTENBERG: Me neither. It can look crazy on a man.

SALTZMAN: But If it makes someone feel better, why not? All the men that I have loved are into it. I’m not going to say that just because someone has a penis, you can’t have Botox. But what doesn’t work is men not understanding that if you’re going to wear foundation, it should be a tinted moisturizer. 

OTTENBERG: I would dream of having a neck job.

SALTZMAN: Do it. How old are you?

OTTENBERG: I’m 48.

SALTZMAN: So wait until you’re 54 and do it, because it will make you feel so good. If that’s something that makes you feel good, why not do it? It’s your life. Also, the longer you wait, the easier it will be to get done.

OTTENBERG: Do you have any memories of Yves Saint Laurent when you were in your height of glamor? 

SALTZMAN: Of course. I spent a lot of time with Mr. Saint Laurent, watching and begging and preening to go to a Met Ball when I was 15 or so. You know, I snuck in wearing a Saint Laurent. It was something I stole from my mom’s wardrobe.

OTTENBERG: Do you remember the most exciting Yves Saint Laurent thing you ever saw?

SALTZMAN: Yes. In all honesty, it was seeing how he turned these exotic, most beautiful, every-skin-tone type of women into my dream, aspirational look. For me, that was the person who said it doesn’t matter what color your skin is. What matters is how you walk and how you hold your head up and how you present yourself as a female, a fierce female. He was the person that changed that for me. And that was the late 70s, very early 80s.

OTTENBERG: Wow.

SALTZMAN: That was the game-changer for me. What my mama wore growing up was a pinstripe broad-shouldered suit, always with the short boy’s haircut. No other mother had that growing up. I was so lucky to have such a cool mom.

OTTENBERG: Fierce.

SALTZMAN: And the thing about Yves was, he really lived life, unlike some of the other ones.

 

MEL OTTENBERG: There’s a lot going on right now. Amelia, you look a zillion bucks. How are you? 

AMELIA GRAY: I’m really good. 

HONEY DIJON: What the fuck, did my battery just die?

OTTENBERG: Wait, where are you going? 

DIJON: San Francisco. 

OTTENBERG: When did you cut your hair? 

DIJON: Like six months ago. 

OTTENBERG: Is that a—

DIJON: No. 

OTTENBERG: It looks fucking hot. 

DIJON: It’s my new thing. They’re extensions, but it’s technically mine. 

OTTENBERG: But it’s really fantastic. 

DIJON: Everyone loves it on me.  I’ve decided to do like, chic now. 

OTTENBERG: I know. I’m bored of trashy. 

DIJON: I’m bored! I’m going like, Upper East Side lady. 

OTTENBERG: I want to live on the Upper East Side. 

DIJON: I’m looking at Pauline Trigère. 

OTTENBERG: I have one Pauline Trigère plate. I eat off of it often, but I want a whole set. 

DIJON: I’m over trashy. 

OTTENBERG: Listen, me too. I’ll always have a soft spot for it, but right now I’m hard for chic. You look gorgeous babe. 

DIJON: Thank you. 

MEL OTTENBERG: I’m here with Talia Ryder.

TALIA RYDER: And I’m here with Mel. 

OTTENBERG: We have the same favorite look. 

RYDER: Do we really? 

OTTENBERG: Yeah, the bomber with the suit.

RYDER: Because it’s like a perfect, cohesive look. But at the same time, everything in that outfit could be worn separately, too. 

 

OTTENBERG: Yes! That’s what I thought. Didn’t they make it look so easy? I don’t think that outfit’s easy at all. 

RYDER: Not at all. It’s a bomber with a suit, but it’s perfect. Also, the skirt that was like, blue with the yellow lace underneath with the purple jacket—I wasn’t ready. 

OTTENBERG: Do you have a favorite look? 

EMILY SCHUBERT: My favorite look? Well, I just loved how they matched the earrings and the shoes. All those emblems. 

OTTENBERG: The shoes go really crazy. 

SCHUBERT: Yeah, I think the jewelry might have been my favorite part. There were a lot of earrings. There were these big, gold earrings with a big red part. 

OTTENBERG: See, I wasn’t even catching the shoes and the earrings because I was so crazy about the clothes. 

SCHUBERT: I felt like it was the perfect frame. 

OTTENBERG: You look great.

RYDER: I’m going Madonna tonight into Dangerous Game, the Abel Ferrara movie.

OTTENBERG: Hey Lyas, so wasn’t the show great?

LYAS: I think it was the best thing I’ve seen in Paris so far. 

OTTENBERG: It was very Yves Saint Laurent when I was a kid and everyone in the press was trashing it, but I thought it was really cool. It was like the late eighties.

LYAS: It was. I loved how they styled the suits with a bomber jacket because I’m always scared of wearing my bomber when I have a suit but now I can, because Anthony [Vaccarello] said we could.

OTTENBERG: And all the girl’s styled like Yves for 20 looks at the beginning was so exciting.

LYAS: I love it because it was a take on the last men’s collection, but worn by women

OTTENBERG: The men’s collection was perfect, but this was even better. 

LYAS: And you know what? I think it was a Saint Laurent that we had never experienced. All the opulence at the end.

OTTENBERG: Justin Theroux, do you have anything to say about this fashion show? 

JUSTIN THEROUX: I have a lot to say. Is this for Interview magazine? Are you interviewing me right now? 

OTTENBERG: Yes. I don’t feel like talking to it-girls. I feel like talking to you.

THEROUX: What do you want to know? 

OTTENBERG: I want to know which of those Saint Laurent ladies is really floating your boat tonight. Like, is she like the tight and sexy one or the colorful, lacy one?

THEROUX: I was really liking the sort of Financial District American Psycho airbrushed 80s beautiful over-the-shoulder sassiness. But it also looked so comfortable. That’s what I was into. She was so Working Girl. 

OTTENBERG: She was so “Let the River Run.”

THEROUX: Work it, girl. It was like they had hatchets underneath, ready to go American Psycho. You know?

OTTENBERG: But in the coolest, not corny way

THEROUX: In the chicest way.

OTTENBERG: You look better than ever. I’ve known you since you were 12 years old and I was one. 

CATHERINE BABA: We both gave birth to each other. 

OTTENBERG: Yes, darling. It’s true.

BABA: Divine, no?

OTTENBERG: We’re living. And as a woman who’s always living in Yves Saint Laurent’s brain, weren’t you excited? 

BABA: I’m living. I love what he’s doing, from the boots to the Proust. You know what I mean? You have that whole Rococo Barococo, but you have that boot. I’ve got this divine ‘80s Saint Laurent men’s trench and that’s what it’s giving me: empowerment and bijou at the same time.

OTTENBERG: Empowerment and bijou at the same time.

BABA: That’s what we need. All of them.  Are we going to have a night together? 

OTTENBERG: Not tonight. I’ve got to work.

BABA: No.

OTTENBERG: I’m an editor-in-chief and I’m being ripped to shreds, blah, blah, blah. But we will. I love you and I want to see you always.