What is connectivity, anyway? In a post-pandemic world, we’re equally challenged with the burden of isolation while being more in touch and available than ever before.
It’s these themes that Saint Laurent explores in the seventh iteration of the legacy label’s SELF photography project.
For the maison, photography, art and culture are creative elements that are inextricably linked throughout its rich history.
One flick (or should we say, one scroll) through the virtual lookbooks Saint Laurent created in lieu of traditional fashion shows proves the label’s enviable aesthetic leans itself to the fragmented and fleeting moments that can only be captured in photographs.
So, when Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello introduced the ‘SELF’ project—an initiative aimed at capturing the complex nature of individuality and “different facets of the Saint Laurent attitude”—we thought there was no better way to personify these struggles of self identity.
Now, in it’s seventh year, Vaccarello has tapped six photographers to interpret the intangibility of a connected world.
Saint Laurent describes the project as a “artistic commentary on society” by “reinforcing the concept of diversity, individuality and self-confidence through a lean free from pretence and hypocrisy”. Frankly, the results speak for themselves.
The final artworks are a cacophony of colour, exploration of transient places, an evocation of loneliness and the struggles of the modern Saint Laurent woman.
The pièce de résistance of the SELF07 project is the amalgamation of the artwork through one omnipresent exhibition. Over four days, Saint Laurent launched six pop-up galleries in various cities around the world.
Exhibited simultaneously in Paris, London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Shanghai, each photographer challenged the dichotomy between fashion and one’s self.
Saint Laurent is urging you to find your own sense of self—an active exploration of the interplay between the subject and the viewer.
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