Saint Laurent designer Hedi Slimane continues to lean into rock and punk themes for design inspiration and with his “A Tribute to Contemporary Californian Surf Music Culture” collection for Spring 2016, taps Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love as muses. While the offerings are by no means a strict interpretation of punk fashion as worn by the couple during the ’80s and ’90s, they’re pretty close (in particular the Kinderwhore dresses, less so the fringe and embroidered silk jackets ) and are heightened especially by some of the male models, who are styled to resemble Cobain with shaggy blond hair and oversized sunglasses.
This collection will no doubt click with Slimane’s expanding customer base who appreciates his skill for deftly elevating the rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic with fine French construction. That said, surely it will irritate the purists on either side, the punks who can’t believe Cobain is being used to hawk luxury goods and the fashion establishment who tend to eschew anything overly street-inspired. As Slimane figured out long ago, neither of those groups are his customer so their opinions at this point for him probably are more amusing than anything.
