Perched on the edge of an outlying island in Venice’s archipelago is structure that looks straight out of science fiction. Made primarily of reflective mirrors, the towering edifice beacons like a space-age lighthouse across the surrounding lagoon, offering a stark contrast to what normally drives millions of people to the historic open-air museum that is Venice.
Rather than an extraterrestrial docking station left behind by a time-travelling future species, the building is a large-scale art-installation created by genre defying artist and filmmaker Doug Aitken, and commissioned at the behest of Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello.
Called Green Lens, the installation is built with impressive foliage at its centre with mirrors refracting and reflecting light like a kaleidoscope. It serves as both an interactive experiential destination, and the latest location for Saint Laurent’s rock’n’roll roadshow. Rather than science fiction, it’s the cocktail of the-old-inspiring the-new that defines Vaccarello’s Spring-Summer ’22 menswear collection.
An army of rake-thin models weave their way through the hall of mirrors dressed in Victorian-era gothic flair, with pointy, multi-buckled winklepickers and lace socks. It has all the classic hallmarks of Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent vision: gender-ignoring, airy loose-fitting shirts, heavy textures and big-time rockstar attitude. The juxtaposition of collection and location is stark. Amid the isolated, nature-inspired temple of calm reflection, the models look like they got lost on the way to a super-chic Transylvanian opium den, run by vampires. But they all look so damn cool.
“The vibe is pure rock’n’roll. It’s Russell Brand and Keith freakin’ Richards strutting around trying to out do each other by seeing how many undone buttons they can get away with”
High-waist, abbreviated hem trousers; cut-off denim shorts; ’70s cropped toreador jackets; and monochrome colour scheme with the occasional flash of ultra-violet. It’s Russell Brand and Keith freakin’ Richards strutting around with silk scarves, trying to one-up each other by showing just how many undone buttons they can get away with.
“Saint Laurent’s cult iconography always combined creative disciplines across art and fashion,” explains Vaccarello in his show notes. “Through those collaborations I want to merge different fields’ artistic visions in a unique artwork.”
But the question of ‘why Venice?’ lingers, until you take into account the show coinciding with the Venice Architecture Biennale—where the theme ask another question: How Will We Live Together? The responsible future-focused rhetoric links both the Aitken’s Green Lens and Vaccarello’s collection. How can we take what we know—about nature, about architecture, about fashion—and use it to shape out future decisions? Gender fluidity, sustainability, and regeneration are all big topics and are all positioned front and centre of the show.
As part of the show’s legacy, the trees and plants incorporated into the Green Lens structure were replanted in addition to the ones which Saint Laurent donated to the island as part of a reforestation program. Saint Laurent’s further goodwill will also see it help finance the restructuring of historical parts of the island that were damaged in 2019.
“Green Lens is a living artwork,” says Aitken. “It’s like a lighthouse, that one can journey to and have a very personal experience, while it also transmits light, ideas and questions. A focal point that allows all of us to share our ideas and visions for the future post Covid…a celebration and inquiry into the future.” It’s progressive collaborations like this that are important, and perhaps soon will be seen more as fact than science fiction.
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