The first major fashion house to shun Paris Fashion Week, Saint Laurent has been doing things on its own terms for the past year. Now, Saint Laurent Men’s SS22 returns to a runway setting, with a large-scale installation by artist Doug Aitken, commissioned by Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello. Titled ‘Green Lens’, the installation is a form of living art and a cultural stage, interacting with its city landscape setting of Venezia, Italy. The artwork sets the tone for an eco-narrative that speaks to the idea of the future world.
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Located on the island of Isola Della Certosa, Green Lens serves as a living experiential artwork as well as a destination, aiming to evoke the future through a crystalline reflective interior that reveals a kaleidoscopic view and dense botanic environment, reflecting the landscape, sky, and ever-changing surroundings. A freestanding artwork, the exterior creates a combination of reflections, accentuated by clouds, mist, and wild green vegetation, working to turn the landscape into a living abstraction.
“Saint Laurent’s cult iconography always combined creative disciplines across art and fashion,” said Vaccarello of the collaboration. “Through those collaborations, I want to merge different fields’ artistic visions in a unique artwork.”
Green Lens was created with the interior of sparking dialogue on the interconnected nature of the natural world with our future. “In the 21st-century, we look toward the future and how to harmonize with the natural environment, striving to create a new balanced world,” said Saint Laurent in a press release. “We seek an environment where nature is empowered again, creativity is championed, and the weight of the past lifts, becoming fluid and inspiring.”
In concomitance with the Biennale of Architecture, the artwork will be accessible until the end of July, alongside a series of activations in the form of performances and conversations, with musicians, speakers, and dancers working to ask and answer the question “What Is The Future?”. The activations will be filmed and released for the public to have access to a living artwork and stage for voices, creativity, culture, performance and music.
“Green Lens is a living artwork. It is both an artwork, installation and stage,” artist Doug Aitken explained. “It’s like a lighthouse, that one can journey to and have a very personal experience, while it also transmits light, ideas and questions. A focal point that allows all of us to share our ideas and visions for the future post-Covid…a celebration and inquiry into the future.”
Saint Laurent Men’s SS22 draws upon the signature design DNA of Saint Laurent; appropriating womenswear silhouettes for menswear pieces. The iconic Le Smoking jacket made several appearances in various iterations, while jacquard crepe de chine blouses and billowy shirts came courtesy of ‘70s archival pieces. Sleek, slim lines and tailored pieces are juxtaposed with billowy capes that speak to the carnival drama of the show’s Venetian setting, while a gothic undertone runs through the entirety of the collection.
Words by Theo Rosen
