Saint Lauren’s 1971 Scandal collection is considered one of the most influential shows in fashion history. It is known for blurring the lines between haute couture and pret a porte.
Looking at the photos now, it is hard to imagine what was so provocative about the collection, but at the time it was considered revolutionary.
It was heavily criticized by media, called tactless, manifestation of poor taste and even the word “kitsch” was first time associated with fashion in the reviews of this collection. Vogue Italy was the only magazine to embrace the collection at the time. The rest of the media reviews were extremely critical.
It’s amazing how the scale of what can be perceived as shocking has changed so much in just 50 years.
The pieces that were considered the most revolutionary were:
- Colorful cropped fur jackets
- Knee length dress with fox fur boa
- wide high waist pants hair turban with pantsuit and a see-through blouse.
- Pantsuits worn without jackets.
- Models in the show were wearing red lipstick and nails which was still associated with courtesan women in early 70s
- Short skirt suit with diamond suspenders.
One of YSL’s inspiration was from WWII occupied Paris and a lot of looks mimicked the spirit of the mid-40s. The wounds of the war were still a fresh trauma and the fashion statements associated with those times were hard to accept and were part of the reasons of the overall resentment.
Despite all the criticism women quickly adopted the style from the collection to their everyday lives.
This is the Iconic dress from the Scandal collection, one of the sources of inspiration was Paloma Picasso. The items with sequined lips were dedicated to her who loved to search for old lipsticks in flea markets. The print still remains popular and has been transformed and reused many times in contemporary collections.
The collection was on display in Paris in 2015. There is also a book with all the images and commentary.
The fashion critics normally judged collections for quality and sophistication of the techniques as well as the freshness of ideas. After Scandal, the collections started to be viewed and evaluated based on the impact they can make on mainstream fashion and how they influence other collections.
After this collection became so popular and styles have become mainstream it has brought the reverse flow to the fashion: fashion designers head out to the streets, clubs and parks to study the trends that will influence the new collection that is later adopted by the mainstream and its just a vicious cycle running from one season to another.
One of the things that was so special about Scandal was that, when it was created there was a clear division between street fashion; retro style; classic style and etc. With the introduction of the collections like Scandal matching the unmatchable and mixing up the styles that have been considered opposed became very common. Provocative red lips, platform shoes and jeweled underwear with serious suits that were so shocking when the collection was just released defined the future of the fashion for many decades.
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