At Saint Laurent, Winter 2026 unfolds in the fragile interval between night and day. The moment when light begins to rise over Paris is not treated as a postcard fantasy, but as a lived reality – one that exists every morning in private rooms across the city. It is here, in this liminal time when the night’s truths are suddenly visible, that Anthony Vaccarello situates his latest men’s collection.
This is a wardrobe shaped by intimacy. By vulnerability. By an eroticism that resists spectacle in favor of personal expression. Vaccarello continues his quiet, insistent questioning of what maleness and masculinity can mean within the Saint Laurent universe, choosing introspection over provocation.
The emotional anchor of the collection is Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin’s seminal 1956 novel. Groundbreaking in its exploration of sexual attraction and its challenge to conventional, bourgeois post-war masculinity, the book offers Vaccarello a deeply psychological point of departure. He is particularly drawn to the tension of a single scene: David leaving Giovanni’s Paris room at dawn for the last time, exchanging desire and longing for the uncertainty of what lies ahead. From this moment emerges a familiar yet powerful Saint Laurent narrative – the morning after the night before.
Clothing becomes ritual. The transition from unclothed to clothed, from unbuttoned to buttoned, mirrors the act of transforming ourselves from our most exposed selves into versions ready to re-enter the world. Vaccarello translates this idea into a lean, sinuous silhouette that feels at once fragile and strong. Soft, crumpled textures carry the imprint of time – of what has been worn, and what has been loved. Sharp shoulders offer structure, cloaking vulnerability without denying its presence.
There is a deliberate play of reveal and conceal: the body framed, hinted at, eroticised without ever slipping into exhibitionism. The house’s signature smoking assumes an almost armor-like authority, dispelling uncertainty and confronting the unknown. High boots anchor the silhouette, grounding it, returning it to earth.
Presiding over the collection is black – the most Saint Laurent of colors – chosen for its dual nature: classic yet iconoclastic, timeless yet defiant. It sharpens every line, deepens every emotion, and reinforces the collection’s quiet intensity.
Presented in a space charged with intimacy and memory, Saint Laurent Men’s Winter 2026 feels less like a show and more like a moment held in suspension. A pause between what has been and what is to come. A reflection on masculinity not as performance, but as lived experience.
