Saint Laurent wants to be a cinematic tastemaker

The Future. Saint Laurent is launching an official film production banner — the first of its kind by a luxury fashion brand. The move not only makes sense to work with some of the greatest artists in the world but also to broaden the appeal of the label. If one of the films takes off in the mainstream, Saint Laurent may see sales skyrocket as audiences try to capture a new iconic look.

Fashion house to production house
Saint Laurent is making its stamp on the film industry.

• Run by in-house creative director Anthony Vaccarello, Saint Laurent Productions will produce, finance, and provide costumes for an ongoing slate of films.
• Like the Kering-owned fashion house, the production banner will be based in Paris.

Saint Laurent Productions is already dropping its first two projects at Cannes next month — Pedro Almodóvar’s short film, Strange Way of Life, and another short rumored to be the last film by the legendary Jean-Luc Godard before he passed away last year. 

The banner already has features in the works from renowned filmmakers David Cronenberg and Paolo Sorrentino.

Fashionable film
It was only a matter of time before a fashion house got fully involved with cinema.

• Fashion houses routinely hired top directors for ad spots, including Sofia Coppola for Dior, Asif Kapadia for Burberry, and Darren Aronofsky for, yes, Saint Laurent.
• Houses have also financed narrative shorts from filmmakers, such as Prada with Wes Anderson’s Castello Cavalcanti and Miu Miu with the anthology series Women’s Tales.

Vaccarello says, “communication-wise, doing a film has more impact on people than a collection. I’m very excited to extend that creativity into something broader and more popular. It’s a new approach to maybe get new Saint Laurent customers.”