With Anthony Vaccarello’s No Matter How Long the Night Is, the visual presentation for Saint Laurent’s Men’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection, the fashion house doubles down on the humanistic nature of their identity, focusing on the immediacy of present pleasures and realities as much as the heart-racing pursuit of the future. Fashion wouldn’t be fashion if it forgot to keep an eye on the horizon.

The ornate architecture of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica is juxtaposed with cerebral towering skyscrapers, as youths parkour across their surfaces. The video is an amalgamation of quick, human movements and surrealist visual effects, as the film crescendos into a runway show atop the Eiffel Tower, at the beckoning of the perennial Saint Laurent muse, Charlotte Gainsbourg. At one point, the camera is spinning as a model is climbing a ladder, distorting ups from downs, allowing the viewer to succumb to disorientation. While the teasers possessed an aura of stillness, the full film is a kinetic rush with frequent moments of intensity as models balance on Brooklyn Bridge, smash down through the ceiling of the Grand Palais, and leap across Beijing rooftops. The attire for such acrobatics is a mixture of dark, tailored suits; loose, longline button-downs; and trench coats punctuated by the occasional floral pattern and flash of gold.

It’s apparent that Vaccarello didn’t just want to simply showcase the collection, he wanted to underline the backbone of Saint Laurent’s identity: while its heart lies in the iron beams of the Eiffel Tower, its dynamic pulse is felt throughout the world.