Cast your minds back a couple weeks ago, to Anthony Vaccarello’s autumn/winter 18 offering, and you’ll no doubt remember 87 looks of pure Parisian 80s glamour. Black cocktail dresses, leather shorts and androgynous silhouettes preceded a floral finale of gravity defying shoulders and sparkles. It was a “fun, sexy, playful and provocative” modern reimagination of Yves’s iconic legacy — to borrow a few choice words from our Fashion Features Editor on the ground, Steve Salter.
Given all this, there couldn’t really be a more perfect Saint Laurent model for the collection than Betty Catroux. The French socialite was a muse to Yves himself, meeting at a gay bar in the 60s and remaining a close friend and inspiration until his death in 2008. A cursory Google of Betty will demonstrate, to the uninitiated, that she’s spent half a decade clad in black leather and dark sunglasses, hanging off the arm of Yves and a who’s who of fashion, film and music’s most prolific and revered names. To this day, she remains a loyal follower of Yves legacy, supporting the work and attending the shows of Hedi Slimane and now Anthony.
In the video, shot by David Sims, Betty dons her trademark black leather jacket and dark sunglasses to the tune of The Velvet Underground’s Venus in Furs. This marks Betty’s first ever advertising campaign, having remained largely a spectator of fashion throughout her life, openly expressing a dislike of the industry. Saint Laurent have previously bucked the trend for younger models when Hedi Slimane photographed Joni Mitchell for spring/summer 15. The same season, Céline cast the equally iconic Joan Didion in a campaign, and so ensured the think piece onslaught asking, “what’s fuelling the stylish senior revolution?”. It seems it’s still going, and quite frankly long may it continue. Check out the clip below.