For his debut in New York, during Fall-Winter 2024-2025 Fashion Week, Ludovic de Saint Sernin did not, so to speak, bring Paris to New York. Or rather, he infused a hint of it into his silhouettes, but it was in his eternal admiration for Robert Mapplethorpewho died in 1989 at the age of 42, from which the French designer drew most of his inspiration.
A unique collection, the result of a dialogue between two arts
The collection is not only a tribute, but also the result of a dialogue with the Foundation Robert Mapplethorpe, founded by the photographer himself a year before his death. “In my mind, it was a collaboration,” explains Ludovic de Saint Sernin. “I imagined that he was still alive and that we were creating clothes together that he wanted to photograph.”
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025 fashion show.
INDIGITAL.TV
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025 fashion show.
INDIGITAL.TV
Car Ludovic de Saint Sernin speaks the same language as Robert Mapplethorpe : a primordial desire to bring fashion, without gender, into men’s and women’s wardrobes, thanks to rounded briefs and sexy details that highlight the body, club style from the 1980s.
The Lyon designer’s admiration for the New York photographer was born at the age of twenty, when he read for the first time Just Kids of Patti Smith. In her memoirs, the singer recounts her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, of which she was first the muse, then the lover, then the eternal best friend. Thanks to this book, Ludovic de Saint Sernin discovered himself and his style. This is why it was so important to him, for his debut in New York salons, to address the breadth of the work left by his idol, from floral photography to the controversial chronicle of the BDSM scene.
Patti Smith at the 2014 exhibition dedicated to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
PATRICK KOVARIK/Getty Images
Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe at the Robert Miller gallery in New York in 1987.
Rose Hartman/Getty Images
Contrary to what many might have expected, he did not do so by resorting to latex and sexually explicit parts. On the contrary, he adopted a more vague vision, which is inspired by the game of hide and seek dear to the work of Robert Mapplethorpewhere the shadows of the flowers bring out a dark eroticism, despite the apparent innocence.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
Vests, skirts and vaporous blouses opened the show, revealing the naked silhouettes of the models, while playing with the floral spectra of poppies, tulips and orchids created by the artist in the 1980s. Some pieces are made of hand-embroidered velvet. hand on organza, others are adorned with metal links dotted with encrusted crystals which required more than 100 hours of work by hand.
Between innocence and dark eroticism
“The collection begins very innocently, focusing on the work of Robert Mapplethorpebefore embracing a darker eroticism, in homage to his love for clubs,” explains Ludovic de Saint Sernin. “He had the audacity to share his fantasies with the whole world, it’s a very strong gesture. It helped many people, including myself, to dare to embody all their facets.”
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
The pieces in the collection are not reserved for the catwalk. The New York office outfit of the 1980s is revisited and corrected (imagine Christian Bale In American Psycho) with cuffed pants and bright red ties. The collection also knows how to be sexy, with lots of leather push-up bras and very low-cut backs. Another important element: shoes signed Christian Louboutin, because Robert Mapplethorpe was also known for his impeccable taste in shoes.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
The writer Patricia Morrisroe described the photographer’s art as torn between two opposite poles: glamor and New York poverty. It also recalls the double game of the artist who, during the day, immortalized the most fashionable personalities of his time and, at night, emancipated himself within the first gay scene. According to Jack Fritscher, in an article published in 2016 in Guardianhe embodied “the elegance of the suit with the attitude of leather”.
Wealth and complexity, decadence and rigor are found today in the power dressing from the 1980s Ludovic de Saint Sernin. This idea is also highlighted on the accessory side, with jewelry born from its collaboration with the Spanish brand Allwhose X motif recalls the notion of excess in a resolutely subversive way.
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
Ludovic de Saint Sernin fall-winter 2024-2025.
INDIGITAL.TV
To close the show, the designer trades his apparent innocence to give way to carnal desire. The codes are being turned upside down, leather is everywhere in the accessories and bondage details, like the masks created for the occasion by the Ukrainian milliner Ruslan Baginskiy. Because as he said Robert Mapplethorpe himself, “the beautiful and the devil are one”, and this parade was an opportunity to provide material proof of this.
2024-02-13 09:28:57
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