Again in 2018, Vanessa Beecroft shot a coterie of black-clad fashions beneath the Eiffel Tower, becoming a member of the ranks of cultural icons – from Wong Kar-wai to Bret Easton Ellis – which have been chosen to contribute to Saint Laurent’s SELF collection. Now, Anthony Vaccarello has invited the Italian photographer and efficiency artist again for a brand new and unique exhibition on the label’s Rive Droite boutiques in Paris and Los Angeles.
Revolving across the smooth and complicated assortment that Saint Laurent unveiled for Spring/Summer time 2023, the collection of 14 polaroids hones in on the small particulars. A quilted suede purse peeks out from beneath a coat sleeve; bejewelled equipment shimmer within the digital camera’s flash; Vaccarello’s sheer, monochromatic layering is captured in close-up; cropped portraits showcase plunging necklines and faces hid behind outsized sun shades.
Collaborations with vogue manufacturers “are difficult and dialectical relationships”, Beecroft informed AnOther in 2021. Additionally they signify only one aspect of her critically-acclaimed profession, which includes portray, sculpture, video artwork, pictures, and efficiency, from fashion-centric Yeezy catwalks to mass nude tableaux vivants. All through all of it, although, the artist has maintained a pointy give attention to the politics and aesthetics of the feminine physique, exploring the contrasts between clothes and nakedness, the collective and the person, what makes individuals robust and what makes them susceptible. The attract of a collaboration with Saint Laurent is clear.
Vanessa Beecroft isn’t alone in bringing a definite creative imaginative and prescient to the Rive Droite shops, which had been envisioned by Vaccarello with a nod to Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic rive gauche line and a mission to showcase creatives throughout numerous fields. Earlier this month, the Beijing-based photographer Lin Zhipeng (AKA No.223) additionally stuffed the shops together with his sexually-charged portraits of Chinese language youth, one other tender exploration of vogue’s relationship with the physique.
Whereas Beecroft’s polaroids are on present on the Rive Droite shops – the place they’ll even be up on the market – a novel booklet will even be made accessible for guests, illustrating the artist’s newest collaboration with the label. Take a more in-depth take a look at the featured pictures within the gallery above.
