Beyond Zoom Dressing At Saint Laurent

They call it Zoom dressing—getting dressed from the waist up, or maybe even from the shoulders up. It’s true that many times this summer, my version of getting dressed for a meeting included putting on a chunky Chopova Lowena necklace and a dash of lipstick over whatever T-shirt I happened to be wearing. It makes sense, to dress just the part that the world sees, but that wasn’t exactly what was going on at Anthony Vaccarello’s latest collection for Saint Laurent, which was presented on a sprawling sand dune in the desert.

First, it was the biker short. Last year Vaccarello was very into a Bermuda short moment, which I was fully not on board with, so I find it very funny that as soon as the first model appeared behind the sand dune—first her little head and slowly the rest of her body, wearing a black fitted wool safari jacket, a big white flower at her neck and biker shorts underneath, I was sold. And yes, bike shorts are having a moment thanks to Princess Diana, but this isn’t about making a baggy sweatshirt look fabulous post-workout. This is something else. Something new.

This is the formal bike short. Suited for business when paired with a silk pussybow blouse or a merino turtleneck; or suited for pleasure when done up in an all-over sequin or better yet, a sculpted gold bra and oversized double-breasted blazer. It’s aspirational dressing, but also not.

“So much excitement over a bike short?” I agree, it’s a lot, but it wasn’t just about the bike short, you see, because soon models emerged in lace-trimmed silk tap shorts, accessorized with Claude Lalanne jewelry. Suddenly I felt the energy of one Tawny Kitaen twirling and romping across the hood of a souped-up vehicle (Kitaen and I share a birthday, also I have been watching all the Fast and Furious films this week). I miss being electrified by fashion! A burnt sienna knitted polo, buttoned all the way up, paired with gold tap shorts, belted, and worn under a classic trench coat. Yes, it is an absolutely unhinged look, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It is reclaiming the classic, a trench coat with nothing underneath, except the nothing underneath is business-ready. You know, very late capitalism!

I know Vaccarello was thinking about our current lives lived indoors, but I don’t think this is just about putting the effort to dress the parts people can see. Our homes are our offices! The private and the public spill into each other back and forth back and forth, but wearing sheer black hose under your bike shorts, or topping off your most capable-looking ensemble with silk tap shorts, well, that one’s just for you.