⠀𓄹ִֶָ𓂃“She is Saint Laurent in the way she lives, in the way she takes charge of how she dresses, in her way of liberating herself from the crowd,” says Vaccarello, who tapped Rosé as Saint -Laurent’s new global ambassador. “She’s someone who represents today’s society.” As the new embodiment of Saint Laurent, Rosé joins a house whose founder was often known for the female company he kept. It’s impossible to think of the designer Yves Saint Laurent without picturing him surrounded by headstrong, quirky women. Betty Catroux. Catherine Deneuve. Loulou de la Falaise. Marina Schiano. Nan Kempner. They were the shock troops of Saint Laurent’s fashion revolution. He outfitted them in safari jackets and tuxedo pants, and sent them out to demolish the codes that dictated what women could and couldn’t wear. And they did.
⠀𓄹ִֶָ𓂃Back then, these women were called muses, a term that seems to have fallen out of favor. It’s a noble tradition of collaboration and creative respect, and it goes back an awfully long way. Sadly, the ranks of Saint Laurent’s muses have thinned out considerably this century. Kempner, de la Falaise, and, most recently, Schiano have all left us. La Catroux—tall, taciturn, and a little chilly—is still with us, thank goodness. Last year, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris mounted a show devoted to Catroux and 50 or so of the outfits Saint Laurent designed for her. It was curated by Vaccarello. “Betty isn’t a woman of the past,” he tells me. “She is always present.”
⠀𓄹ִֶָ𓂃For his part, Vaccarello says Rosé joins an unbroken line of Saint Laurent icons. “There’s not a lot of difference between the Saint Laurent woman from before and today,” he says. “She’s younger now, but the character hasn’t changed: sure of herself, conquering, independent. That’s how I see Betty, and that’s how I see Rosé—women who don’t need anybody else to exist, who are truly themselves.”
⠀𓄹ִֶָ𓂃Back then, these women were called muses, a term that seems to have fallen out of favor. It’s a noble tradition of collaboration and creative respect, and it goes back an awfully long way. Sadly, the ranks of Saint Laurent’s muses have thinned out considerably this century. Kempner, de la Falaise, and, most recently, Schiano have all left us. La Catroux—tall, taciturn, and a little chilly—is still with us, thank goodness. Last year, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris mounted a show devoted to Catroux and 50 or so of the outfits Saint Laurent designed for her. It was curated by Vaccarello. “Betty isn’t a woman of the past,” he tells me. “She is always present.”
⠀𓄹ִֶָ𓂃For his part, Vaccarello says Rosé joins an unbroken line of Saint Laurent icons. “There’s not a lot of difference between the Saint Laurent woman from before and today,” he says. “She’s younger now, but the character hasn’t changed: sure of herself, conquering, independent. That’s how I see Betty, and that’s how I see Rosé—women who don’t need anybody else to exist, who are truly themselves.”