For his 30th show in Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello went big: shoulders, silhouettes, messages, colors, jewels, messages. Spring/Summer 2026 encapsulates the YSL woman but doesn’t cage her. That would be impossible.

The recent rise of conservative ideologies shackles women to chains thought long gone. The Belgian designer harkens back to the quintessential YSL woman to inspire freedom.

Vaccarello imagines cruising in the Tuileries. It’s an easy image to conjure: belted leather coats that engorge the shoulders parade in a maze of white hydrangeas.

Still, YSL sexuality isn’t musky, it’s perfumed. Models don’t wear the imposing leather jackets naked underneath, but with massive pussybow blouses, their collars almost extending past the line of powerful shoulders.

The collection ends with a sequence of dramatic monochromatic gowns that, despite their theatrical volume, are light. Ingeniously made of nylon, the jewel-toned dresses are masterpieces of silhouette and movement alike.