Desire. Burning with desire. On Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s runway, the heat was so intense that a pair of boxer shorts went up in flames in the middle of the show. They were embroidered flames, but still. For the young French pioneer of sex positivity in fashion (face it—no one was chatting about extreme sexiness until about three-and-a-half weeks ago), his steamy return to what the industry is calling “physical” shows was pulsating with a whole other layer of significance.
“I feel like we were in such a digital world for like a year-and-a-half that it was really critical for me to reconnect with physicality and sensuality, in a way that you could almost grab it,” said De Saint Sernin.
He wove all of that pent-up tension into a collection that stretched tiny strands of leather into minuscule dresses and taut bodices equally across genders to eye-popping effect. “We wanted to showcase the artisanal feel of the collection,” he explained. “All these pieces are entirely braided, knotted, and laced by hand. There’s no sewing at all. It’s really body formatted.”
Good way of putting it: Wherever there’s a garment, there’s also a calculated intent to display a body, because what else would be the point? De Saint Sernin has been well ahead of the generational game of blurring underwear with outerwear. His easy, elasticated-waist, pajama-like pants and shirts and leather bralettes are part of this. This season it also meant a semi-sheer smocking technique, used in dresses and shirts cut to cling and strain at buttons, and delicate, semi-transparent fabrics, like laddered knits.
“Mermaid, California-gothic girlfriend” is how he described the inspiration for overtly glam transparencies in crystal-beaded fishnet: a one-shoulder dress, a couple of miniature sparkly sarongs. His two finale dresses hinted at either having been shipwrecked or wrecked from a long night of partying.
De Saint Sernin has a burgeoning business in his flared jeans with eyelet-laced flies, shown again this season with split hems (which are breaking out all over at the moment for some reason). The signature eyelet was also an unmissable feature on a black thong. It was, he remarked with a straight face, “just a little teaser,” because Pornhub sponsored his show, and he has a collaboration with the porn site coming next spring. Of course this makes complete sense. Populating adjacent entertainment businesses is becoming one of the names of the game for designers in the 2020s. Among Pornhub’s 22 million registered viewers, there have to be plenty who’ll be keen for an eyeful of what De Saint Sernin serves up.
