Dezeen Magazine

Es Devlin creates illuminated monolithic ring for Saint Laurent show in Moroccan desert

A glowing metal ring designed by set designer Es Devlin framed fashion house Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 2023 menswear show in the Moroccan desert.

Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 2023 menswear show was set 30 kilometres outside of Marrakech in the middle of the Agafay desert.

The Agafay Desert was the setting for Saint Laurents Spring Summer 2023 menswear show
Es Devlin created a desert mirage for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 2023 show

Anthony Vaccarello, the brand's creative director, looked to pay tribute to the significance of Marrakech as a location for Saint Laurent founder Yves Saint Laurent, who used to come to the country to find respite from Parisian work and living.

The show space itself, created by London-based artist and set designer Devlin, was a monolithic and glowing oasis that Saint Laurent explained referenced Paul Bowles' 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky.

Mist clouds the Saint Laurent show space around a circular pond
A circular oasis was placed at the centre of the show space

Devlin created a mirror-clad colonnade that surrounded rows of dusty red, stone-like stools created by local artisans, as well as a circular oasis-cum-pond at the centre of the show space.

Guests sat facing the peaked desert in the distance, while the sand dune vista became clouded by artificial mist that rose from the ground at the edge of the setting as the show commenced.

Saint Laurent models are pictured walking the desert show space by Es Devlin
The show took place in the Agafay desert

Models circled the Devlin-designed circular pond in the sharp tailoring that is synonymous with Saint Laurent. The show nodded to Vaccarello's Autumn Winter 2022 power-dressing womenswear collection, which was shown at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

As the show drew to an end, a perforated metal ring – illuminated across its inner edge – rose from the rounded pond, twisting, spinning and emitting the same artificial mist that clouded the event space.

"An awe-inspiring set in the middle of Agafay desert – a ring-shaped luminous oasis amid the vast, arid unknown," said Saint Laurent of the show's set design.

"Hope and mystery juxtaposed as a metaphor for life's fascinating complexity."

An illuminated ring is pictured rising from the circular pond by Es Devlin
The set was informed by Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky

The French fashion house explained that it employed a number of steps to reduce the show's environmental impact and achieve carbon neutrality.

In the run-up to the show, environmental experts conducted a series of studies to protect the site's biodiversity, while also donating materials and equipment used in the show to local organisations.

Non-potable water was used within the circular pond. After the event, this is set to be reused in agricultural projects around Agafay, including for irrigation purposes on olive tree farms.

The illuminated ring by Es Devlin is pictured at glowing at night
Saint Laurent took measures to reduce the show's environmental impact

"The carbon footprint of the event is calculated and all greenhouse gas emissions are offset through verified REDD+ projects which not only conserve critical forests and biodiversity but also support the livelihoods of local communities," said the brand.

"In addition, we will support locally the high atlas foundation fruit tree planting program benefiting Moroccan families' livelihoods."

Models are pictured circling the Es Devlin pond and ring
The show's location was a nod to Yves Saint Laurent's get-away refuge

For the fashion brand's Spring Summer 2022 menswear show, artist Doug Aitken created a mirrored show venue filled with plants on the Venetian island of Certosa.

At Paris Fashion Week, production studio Villa Eugénie created a replica of Christian Dior's childhood home and a garden with 19,000 flowers for Dior's Spring Summer 2023 menswear show.

Photography is courtesy of Saint Laurent.

More images

Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show
Es Devlin created the set for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 20223 menswear show