Life.Culture.Discovery.

YSL spring/summer 2023 show in Moroccan desert is reminiscent of a David Bowie science fiction film

Dominic Fike, Anwar Hadid and Catherine Deneuve were among the celebrities at Yves Saint Laurent’s latest menswear show in the desert near Marrakech in Morocco

YSL’s collection – dominated by loose, silhouetted suits – is hailed as ‘pure and contemporary’ as the maison once again shows it is the go-to brand for black

Reading Time:3 minutes

American singer/songwriter Dominic Fike was among the celebrity guests at the Saint Laurent spring/summer 2022/2023 menswear show in the Agafay desert near Marrakech, Morocco. Photo: Handout

Published: 1:45pm, 18 Jul 2022Updated: 2:27pm, 18 Jul 2022

Parisian brand Saint Laurent’s connections to the city of Marrakech, Morocco, run deep. Founder Yves Saint Laurent, who was born in Algeria, discovered Marrakech in 1966 and spent time there to escape city live in Paris.

“Once I grew sensitive to light and colours, I especially noticed the light on colours,” he once said. “On every street corner in Marrakech, you encounter astonishingly vivid groups of men and women, who stand out in a blend of pink, blue, green, and purple kaftans.”

The late Yves Saint Laurent was in love with the city’s rich hues – which are also on full display at his Marrakech property, Villa Oasis, and surrounding gardens, Jardin Majorelle – but Anthony Vaccarello, the current creative director of the brand, could not have chosen a more colour-free location to unveil his latest men’s collection for the brand on July 15: the Agafay Desert, situated an hour’s drive from Marrakech.

While this was a homecoming of sorts for the house, the show was far from nostalgic. Tailored outfits, cut in loose silhouettes – in line with the 80s-style power suit renaissance that is happening right now – dominated the mainly monochromatic collection.

Saint Laurent is the go-to brand for fans of black – few designers can make the staple wardrobe shade as appealing as Vaccarello does – and the range delivered on that front, with sharp looks in a predominantly dark palette looking even more striking against the backdrop of endless sand dunes.