Paris Fashion Week AW24: Saint Laurent revives trend for "naked" dressing

Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello took inspiration from a current exhibition at the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris for this AW24 runway show.

The Sheer: The Diaphanous Creations of Yves Saint Laurent exhibition goes back to the 1960s, when the celebrated French designer experimented with see-through chiffon, lace and tulle materials.

“I’ve worked for quite some time now with diaphanous fabrics. The important thing is to maintain their mysterious nature… I think I’ve done the best I could for the liberation of women. I created clothes that were perfectly in sync with the twenty-first century,” Saint Laurent once said.

The designer debuted a sheer chiffon blouse worn with nothing underneath in 1968, and this was given a modern spin in the AW24 collection.

Vaccarello’s latest offering was dominated by see-through materials – from sheer skirts to lightweight, gossamer tops, and even the hosiery material models wore as hoods.

It gave a delicate, almost ethereal vibe to the collection – with pale beige and grey tones studded with the occasional jewel colour, like a deep red or bright blue.

Backstage, Vaccarello reportedly said the flimsy silk hosiery fabrics that permeated the collection were a nightmare for his atelier to work with. He told WWD: “I wanted to do something very fragile,” and added that he wanted people to know that Saint Laurent is “a house of transparency”.

While the emphasis was on materials as light as air, there was contrast in the collection – models also donned oversized fur jackets or held voluminous feathered coats.

And there was age diversity in the show, too, with some older models walking the runway. This comes after the brand debuted its spring 2024 campaign in January, starring Diana Ross, 79 and Lauren Hutton, 80.

Olivia Wilde

The trend was embraced by the high profile audience viewing the show with Olivia Wilde and Zoe Kravitz among those in daring sheer outfits to sit on the front row.

Don’t Worry Darling actor and director Wilde wore a see-through black bodysuit with cut-outs at each side, paired with a dark grey midi skirt, leather gloves and Seventies-inspired sunglasses.

Zoe Kravitz

Meanwhile, The Batman star Zoe Kravitz – who is a regular face in Saint Laurent’s advertising campaigns – wore an almost imperceptibly sheer chocolate brown belted midi dress.

Model Georgia May Jagger wore an almost identical outfit to Wilde, in slightly different colours and textures, while fellow model Lila Moss wore a skintight, semi-sheer black long-sleeve dress with an open back.

Lila Moss

She was joined on the front row by supermodel mother Kate Moss, whose outfit was also daring – but in a different way.

Kate Moss

She wore a double-breasted fur coat with seemingly nothing underneath except for sheer tights and high heels. Moss kept the styling simple and chic, with slicked back hair, kohl-rimmed eyes, a subtle lip and gold hoop earrings.

The front row was full of supermodel star power, as Linda Evangelista was also in attendance.

Linda Evangelista

Evangelista – who walked the Yves Saint Laurent catwalk as early as the Eighties – was in a more demure outfit, wearing a double-breasted black coat with statement shoulders, a black turtleneck underneath and opaque tights.