Photo: Getty Images

Curiously, the music for Saint Laurent’s debut show wasn’t delivered by Grimes) or former Girls frontman Christopher Owens — who have both been subjects of creative head Hedi Slimane’s photography, and the latter of whom stars in the newly re-booted brand’s first ads. Electronic duo, and longtime wearers of Slimane’s menswear Daft Punk had that honor instead, and compiled a fifteen-minute mix of songs by late bluesman Junior Kimbrough. Daft Punk’s contributions to the Paris fashion house might seem unexpected — especially given that the group’s next full-length has been continually pushed back — but the show was full of surprises all around.

http://youtu.be/KjoSM1UskpM

As an often-labeled representative of youth culture, within the fashion community, Slimane’s spring/summer ‘13 collection for Saint Laurent was uncharacteristically stodgy. His palette was mostly drab — which has worked recently for other designers like the vogue ball-referencing Rick Owens — but there was no story to tell in its silhouettes or cuts. There wasn’t any drama in the collection either — at least, not in the clothes. There was, however, plenty of it surrounding the collection which is why it took this long for its Daft Punk-edited soundtrack to get to our ears. For those unfamiliar, a quick recap: Slimane refuses a seat at his show to New York Times fashion writer Cathy Horyn, Horyn, along with other critics, gives the collection a lukewarm review, Slimane fires shots at Horyn on Twitter, Slimane deletes said tweets and pens a nasty letter to her on his blog. Oh, and Lady Gaga is involved too: the singer rapped her disdain for Horyn in a track at her costume collaborator Nicola Formichetti’s Mugler show, a few days before Slimane’s. While Slimane’s recent irreverence may have lost him the goodwill of a few mighty reporters, he at least has some great musicians on his side.

Listen to the mix below: