New Style Idea

Luxury French house Saint Laurent threw us a curveball last week. Alongside the announcement of its spring ’21 show date on Sept. 9, it released cryptic teaser imagery which might have suggested Los Angeles as the location.

But now it would appear that something is afoot much closer to home.

This morning Saint Laurent revealed a time of 12 noon CEST for the show and, more importantly, images and footage from the City of Light. The shots and video involve the view from Sacré Coeur basilica in Paris’ Montmartre district.

Taken together it now seems that Saint Laurent will show atop famous Paris monument Sacré Coeur.

One features a male model sitting on the ledge that runs around of the cloisters at the very top of the dome. (Probably not entirely advisable from a health and safety point of view.) For the record he is wearing a printed shirt, shorts and open sandals. Another shot features what would appear to be someone running up it parkour style. This may or may not have been rendered in CGI.

The church is built on the top of a hill which is the highest point in the city and once you have scaled the hill and the steps leading up to the basilica it’s another 300 steep steps to reach the top of the dome itself.

The grand stairway that is backdropped by Sacré Coeur would certainly make for a beautiful show setting while drone cameras could definitely get some beautiful, not to mention socially distanced footage of models walking around the open cloisters at the top of the dome.

Saint Laurent’s Paris Fashion Week runway shows held in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower were always a key fixture on the city’s schedule. However, such a new staging could take the brand to new heights, literally.

Kering-owned brand Saint Laurent created a ripple effect in April when it announced its intention to reshape its show schedule. At the time it released a statement saying that it planned to present its collections according to its “own rhythm.”

However, after announcing that he would not show in line with the traditional 2020 calendar, creative director Anthony Vaccarello left his plans open ended in terms of when and how collections will be presented going forward.

Watch the teaser below.