As part of the Saint Laurent Rive Droite project, Anthony Vaccarello has decided to give his creations to artist Helmut Lang to exert as raw materials for a set of unique sculptures.
In his quest for new partnerships and ideas to expand the identity of Saint Laurent, Anthony
Vaccarello has handpicked Helmut Lang, whose body of work in fashion reflect a strict construction that can be seen as an underground influence upon Anthony’s vision.
He has always admired and respected Helmut Lang, who made a name for himself from the late 80s and on by inventing a brand new design language that is still the ultimate embodiment of minimalism, modernity and restrained opulence.
Helmut has been part of Anthony Vaccarello’s inspiration as a designer but also as a person who always made the right choice. Also concerned with modern issues like sustainability, durability, lasting power of the ever-shifting nature of fashion collections and cycles, Anthony Vaccarello has found the perfect interlocutor for a project that is also a dialogue.
Helmut Lang questioned the very definition of luxury and the meaning of the clothes’ function.
He initiated with close artists, Louise Bourgeois and Jenny Holzer, which turned into a habit in the 21st century: a collaboration between an artist and a fashion designer. These close links put new interrogations at the forefront of the ever-evolving fashion industry: fashion a form of applied art, the time-frame of fashion creations, its more or less perennial impact on global culture are probably the only two who are still at the heart of today’s discussions.
With that background and creative philosophy, it seemed natural for the designer to turn to art full-time in 2005. His unique ability to turn items, either raw or discarded, into pieces of art, made him the perfect partner for this project.
Anthony Vaccarello invited him to work with past collections he made for Saint Laurent, thus contributing, in a selfless gesture, to the transmutation of his creations for the house into another form of art.
Clothing and accessory prototypes, garments and jewels left unfinished and deserted, remaining testimonies of Anthony Vaccarello’s creativity has been morphed into a new life.
Shredded, mixed with a pigmented resin then molded in aluminum, these former fashion objects will become primal totems with unique textures reminiscing both, a precious past and a promising future.
The sculptures will be displayed at Rive Droite, first in Paris, then in Los Angeles and will be available for sale.
