YSL Latex Collection – Fall/Winter 2020/2021

World

The presence of latex on the world's great catwalks is no longer a complete novelty. Still, there are not many such events. Let's take a look at the women's fall/winter 2020/2021 collection from Yves Saint Laurent.

Yves Saint Laurent – or YSL for short – is a French fashion house founded in 1961. Since 2016, its artistic director (chief designer) is Anthony Vaccarello. He is the one responsible for the collection we saw. In February 2020, during Paris Fashion Week, the autumn-winter 2020/2021 collection was presented, in which a lot of space was devoted to latex.

It’s impossible to cover all the looks, but it’s worth taking a look at the tone of the entire collection, from a latex perspective of course. The first thing that strikes the eye is that the vast majority of the styles contain latex in some part! These are paired with ordinary closet items to create “casual latex” styles. Leggings are the most common. They come in many different colors – from classic black, through red, to blue and burgundy. They are paired with a variety of casual tops. They are often double-breasted jackets, but this is not a rule. In addition, we see latex skirts, long dresses, simple tops and more.

The strength of the Saint Laurent show is to show latex in its purely fashion aspect. Latex is shown as a material that has nothing to do with the world of fetish here. Anthony Vaccarello presents latex as a universal and at the same time very special material, whose role is to emphasize the strength of a woman and her assets. Latex becomes here an elegant, exclusive and sensual material, but it is in no way offensive. In this way, the show stands, in a way, in opposition to the opinion about latex that a considerable number of people seem to hold. Latex offers new possibilities for self-expression while remaining classy and elegant.

Is latex likely to make its way to bigger men’s fashion shows as well? It seems that everything is open, and we are witnesses of latex entering the big stages and the big world. One thing is for sure – we will see latex on the world’s catwalks more than once.

Below is the full video of the show and selected photos of the styling.