'Emilia Perez' features a breadth of Saint Laurent looks. Photo: Handout
Musical crime drama Emilia Perez is making waves. It has just won big at the 2025 Golden Globes (four wins out of a whopping 10 nominations).
Not only that, the film is on this year’s nominated list for three Screen Actors Guild Awards, 10 Critics’ Choice Awards and 11 Baftas, plus the shortlist for six Oscars.
Last year, it snagged three wins out of five nominations at the Cannes Film Festival.
What makes this so noteworthy in the style industry however, is the fact that Emilia Perez was produced by a fashion house.
Anthony Vaccarello has expressed many times in interviews that he really has a strong interest in films. Photo: Saint LaurentSaint Laurent Productions, a division under its famous parent brand, is spearheaded by designer Anthony Vaccarello – who has been described as a “cinephile”.
He told Variety back in 2023 that it gives him the opportunity to expand his vision for Saint Laurent through “a medium that has more permanence than clothes”.
Read more: Nude sketches by fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent to be sold at Paris auction
Last year, he said in an interview with Vogue that film has always been something he was really into.
“When I started at Saint Laurent (2016) I always wanted to see my collection captured by a master, in much the same way Saint Laurent’s collections were photographed by Helmut Newton,” Vaccarello commented.
“Early on, I would collaborate on these little films about the collections with (directors) Wong Kar Wai or Bret Easton Ellis; I always wanted to have the best realisateurs to link to the name of Saint Laurent. So it started slowly like that: a little clip of a film lasting four, five minutes.”
Emilia Perez tells the story of a lawyer (played by Zoe Saldana) who helps a cartel leader (Karla Sofia Gascon) to “disappear” into a new life.
The costumes came from Vaccarello’s archives.
Saldana and Gomez wore Saint Laurent in the film. One of the more memorable looks for Saldana is a red velvet suit, while Gomez looks visually stunning in a printed Saint Laurent blazer in one scene and a large fur coat in another.
The film’s artistic director and costume designer, Virginie Montel, told Women’s Wear Daily that each character’s style changes drastically throughout the film – it was a challenge she welcomed.
“We had such a change from the first part of the movie to the second part of the movie,” Montel said, referring to its theme of transition.
The costumes designed by Anthony Vacarello for 'Parthenope' have been put on display in a museum in Rome. Photo: Cinecitta Si Mostra
Read more: Golden Globes fashion: Ariana Grande dons yellow, Glen Powell in a casual tuxedo
Other films by Saint Laurent Productions include Strange Way Of Life (2023), The Shrouds (2024) and Parthenope (2024).
So far, there has not been any special fashion collections released in conjunction with these films (despite costuming them), which means the company is not using films as a marketing means for its fashion designs.
The late Yves Saint Laurent himself designed costumes for films like Belle De Jour (1967) and La Chamade (1968). So, it’s only natural for the current head designer to expand on that different aspect of visual creativity.
“Saint Laurent was always such a cinematic house, but I thought it could be good for the house to be linked directly to film production, rather than just doing costuming, which is more expected,” said Vacarello in Vogue.
