Countless designers have costumed stars for the big screen, but few were as prolific as the formidable Yves Saint Laurent. Over the course of four decades, the couturier dressed the likes of Catherine Deneuve, Jean Seberg, Claudia Cardinale, and Romy Schneider in subversive vinyl trench coats and frothy cocktail dresses in the works of François Truffaut, Luis Buñuel, and Claude Chabrol—his striking creations frequently stealing the spotlight from the luminous leading ladies who sported them.
It’s fitting, then, that Saint Laurent’s current creative director, Anthony Vaccarello, is honoring this legacy with Saint Laurent Productions, a film production company that is the first of its kind to be run by a luxury maison, and aims to roll out bold, experimental new releases featuring costumes created by Vaccarello himself. Last spring saw the premiere of the studio’s first finished project—Pedro Almodóvar’s ravishing queer western, Strange Way of Life, starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke—at the Cannes Film Festival, while this year, a trio of releases follow in its footsteps: Jacques Audiard’s surreal, Selena Gomez-led musical Emilia Pérez; David Cronenberg’s latest arthouse horror, The Shrouds; and Paolo Sorrentino’s Naples-set Parthenope.
Here, we look back at some of the most memorable Saint Laurent looks on film, from Belle de Jour’s deceptively prim peacoats to the puff-sleeved, tulle-lined showstoppers worn by Isabelle Adjani in Luc Besson’s 1980s thriller Subway.
The Pink Panther (1963)
