Saint Laurent pays tribute to Pierre Bergé and creates a perfect wardrobe for Parisian party girls

One of the most talked about- and copied- items of the current fashion season is Saint Laurent’s ￡6,855 slouchy, knee-high boots which are encrusted entirely in glittering crystals so that the wearer’s legs resemble disco-balls. They are, undeniably, fabulous but if they sound like a tricky item to find an occasion to wear, then the Parisian fashion house’s very best clients were offered the perfect opportunity to exhibit theirs at last night’s spring/ summer 2018 show.

Held in the Jardins du Trocadéro, with the Eiffel Tower looming large from across the Seine, guests had been warned to arrive for a prompt 8pm start- not a notion which comes naturally to this fashionably late crowd for whom louche tardiness is innate. But the reason for the directive soon became clear as, just on time, the iconic Paris landmark lit up and sparkled as glamorously as those boots which studded the front row.

Anthony Vaccarello, the 35 year-old creative director now in his third season, had chosen the moment to pay tribute to Pierre Bergé, the business and life partner of Yves Saint Laurent, who died earlier this month aged 86. He was the driving force who established YSL as one of the best known fashion names in the world in the 60s and 70s and helped to ensure its longevity, but Vaccarello’s collection- shown to music which made seats pulsate- proved why the label still has such high-octane appeal.

He riffed on signatures coined by Saint Laurent throughout his career and electrified them for the Parisian party girls of today. Feathers, peasant blouses and tribal jewellery inspired by jaunts to Morocco and his ‘African Queen’ Iman were reimagined with acres of leg on show. The concept of the couture-bride became more haute hen party as her veil was completed with a white mini skirt and dancefloor-ready heeled boots. The jewel-hued satin puffballs which Saint Laurent showed in his couture collections were paired with hot pants, giant earrings or skinny tuxedo trousers.

The new spin on those crystal boots will be a similar style sprouting ostentatious plumes -which felt at once spectacularly glamorous but also, perhaps, funereal- in cobalt, black or white which shimmy as you dance. But the velvet bomber jacket embellished with tiny, sparkly Eiffel towers and tiny cross-body bags in the shape of cigarette boxes will have the same sell-out crackle of which Bergé would surely have approved.

Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018: See what the front row are wearing