Saint Laurent Presents a Mystical yet Elegant Giant Ring

Saint Laurent's Spring-Summer menswear collection show 2023 was held in the Agafay desert, Morocco. Judging from its history, this area is an important location for Saint Laurent, as it was a witness to Yves Saint Laurent–the founder of Saint Laurent–in finding a place of rest to calm down from his work and life in Paris.
Morocco was chosen because it has an important history for the founder of Saint Laurent (Photo by Saint Laurent)

The event offers stunning views in honor of the majestic beauty of Morocco. In addition, this menswear collection performance event is dedicated as a tribute to Morocco and has been instrumental in the success of Yves Saint Laurent.

To support the success of the event, a subtle halo became the setting for a show that looked like a glowing oasis created by London-based artist and designer Es Devlin. This set design was inspired by Paul Bowle's 1949 novel The Sheltering Sky.

Es Devlin creates a huge luminous ring for Saint Laurent's Spring Summer 2023 show (Photo by Saint Laurent)

The main star on the set design of this show is a giant luminous ring that emerges from the pool, appearing stunningly in a circle in the middle of the desert, bringing an extraordinary mystical atmosphere. Interestingly, the set design designed by Es Devlin also looks like a mirage in the desert because the giant ring seems to complement the natural landscape integrated into a beautiful layout.

Large luminous rings inspired by a Novel by Paul Bowles (Photo by Saint Laurent)

The guests' seats are faced towards the large ring and the circular pool that houses the ring, against the backdrop of the desert peak from a distance. This circular pond is specially made by local craftsmen. When viewed from a distance, the pond features a visual mirage in the Agafay desert.

As the show ended, the team created a dream scenario that allowed the huge ring to go around in circles, emitting its light and the artificial fog that would cover the event space.

Es Devlin creates a mirage for the show's set design (Photo by Saint Laurent)

The beauty created by Es Devlin not only appears in the design set he designed, but his efforts to respect nature and landscapes with an environmentally friendly design performance structure are one of the positive values of his design. Devlin made this effort by using inedible water to fill the circular ring pool so that once the 2023 Saint Laurent Spring-Summer menswear collection show is over, this water can be reused for agricultural irrigation around Agafay.

Featuring a variety of clothing collections Spring-Summer 2023 (Photo by Saint Laurent)