“Today, I see a lot of things that look like Saint Laurent,” said Anthony Vaccarello, in regard to his latest show. “I want to skip that and propose something new for that woman: to be the first one to set a new trend, to be different to what is around you.”

For the creative director, that meant going back to the drawing board, crafting a Spring/Summer 2024 collection marked by its no-frills simplicity—a return to Saint Laurent’s foundations, with a modern edge. Amelia Earhart and Adrienne Bolland served as Vaccarello’s muses: “Pioneering women who infiltrated domains once considered exclusively male,” mirroring the French house’s penchant for borrowing from menswear staples and rendering them “lastingly feminine,” states a press release.

One of this season’s notable departures was a longer, looser silhouette: knee-length, roomy skirts; trench coats belted high on the waist; cargo pants that nearly obscured footwear. It was decidedly utilitarian, playing with workwear and the safari jacket, then offset by refined elements; on top of leather gloves, for instance, models wore gold bangles, or paired pointed heels with zippered jumpsuits.

“In general, I think there’s a lot of very busy things right now,” Vacarrello reflected on the state of modern fashion. This season, he sought to even out the playing field: “I want [Saint Laurent] to go back to something very clean and basic, and start a new chapter in a way.”