Paris fashion week: Hedi Slimane channels the 1980s for Saint Laurent - The Guardian

Paris fashion week: models wear creations from French-born designer Hedi Slimane's spring/summer 2014 collection for Saint Laurent. Photograph: Jacques Brinon/AP

Everyone at Paris fashion week has an opinion on Hedi Slimane. Hours before his show for Saint Laurent in a dark box in the Grand Palais on Monday night the guessing game began. Which musical subculture would the divisive designer riff on for his third show? He has done luxe boho, then grunge baby doll. Now what? Rave? Teddy girls?

It says something about the look Slimane has already created for Saint Laurent that commentators feel it can be reduced to one or two adjectives.

A model dress from the Saint Laurent spring/summer 2014 collection Photograph: Ian Langsdon/EPA

In the end he went for a New York-inspired mid 80s mix of tight, sometimes flame encrusted sparkly one-shouldered minidresses, flicky eyeliner, cap sleeve leather biker jackets and skinny ties. Sparkly socks and kitten-heeled court shoes completed a look which Blondie would have been happy with. Faux mean models stomped down the catwalk to the strains of Mr Your on Fire Mr by Liars as Lenny Kravitz and a bunch of LA music scenesters looked on.

The Slimane approach is to use fashion as a medium for expressing artistic ideas. This time around his invitations featured the work of Guy de Cointet – a French-born artist who worked in LA and died in 1983. De Cointet created sculptural works which were often used as stage sets. Monday's Saint Laurent show began with neon graphic strips of light which moved around to form triangles above the catwalk. Slimane too is Parisian-born but works out of a studio in LA, surely an intentional parallel?

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images/Miguel Medina Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images

But three seasons in and the already well-established Slimane for Saint Laurent formula failed to shock. The audience left with much shoulder shrugging and muttering about styling taking precedence over new clothing ideas.

Perhaps the retailers in the audience may have had a different view. Off the catwalk there is a certain amount of folklore surrounding the fit of this new incarnation of Saint Laurent. It is said that once you try on a Saint Laurent piece of tailoring you're sold and never want to take it off. No doubt the skinny trousers and the 80s dinner jackets worn over those mini dresses will fit to perfection. The masculine jackets – cut the same for women as they are for men, only scaled down – looked flawless. The trench – a signature of the house – is a once in a lifetime purchase, although the Saint Laurent customer who buys it will not be wearing it with a sheer and leather minidress underneath.

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images/Miguel Medina Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images

There is no doubt that the tailoring works at Slimane's Saint Laurent, and the sparkly socks and court shoes were a fun way of showing off the brilliantly slim pants, but the 80s gregarious minidresses felt more retro than relevant.

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