The most famous suit in the world, Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking, has returned to the Paris catwalk 60 years after its invention.
Designed by the late couturier to be worn by men in smoking rooms to protect clothing from the smell of cigars, he adapted it for women, slimming the trousers and lapels. It wasn’t a runaway success – only one sold from his 1966 collection – but it became a global symbol of power dressing and gender dismantling, and would appear in every collection until Saint Laurent retired in 2002.
Worn on the opening night of Paris fashion week by 14 models, each with one hand stuffed nonchalantly into a pocket, the 2026 version had been adapted further still by Saint Laurent’s current designer, Anthony Vaccarello, who was marking a decade in the job. It wasn’t the slinky tailoring synonymous with Saint Laurent but more of an 1980s Wall Street look, worn with maximal jewellery and a makeup palette ripped from Robert Palmer’s Addicted to Love video.
Hot on the heels of Harry Styles’s black-and-white boucle pinstripe Chanel suit at the Brits, some even came in barely-there pinstripe, though they were more reminiscent of the dollar-saturated world of Wall Street than Nigel Farage. As if to hammer home the power-dressing theme, the coat section featured enormous jackets in knitted shearling and sky-high heels.
Despite the distractions that come with a show staged in a modernist glass “apartment” in front of the Eiffel Tower lit up by 20,000 twinkling bulbs, Kate Moss and Michelle Pfeiffer on the front row and an oversized replica of a bust which Saint Laurent kept in his own home, current events had touched the mood. Wildly materialistic displays of power and wealth are not a great look, particularly now.
But Paris fashion week, the biggest of the big four, is a huge financial and cultural moment for the French capital. On Monday, Pascal Morand, the executive president of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion, told reporters that there would be “no cancellation, no modification” to the schedule, which runs into next week, while specifying that they remain “very attentive to the situation”.
As if in reaction to global events, the luxury market has flattened somewhat. According to Kering, the conglomerate that owns YSL, annual revenue last year was approximately €2.6bn (£2.3bn), down about 8 % year on year. Still, the fashion house is one of Paris biggest exports, says Simon Longland, director of fashion buying at Harrods. “While the broader market has been more volatile, the brand has shown resilience and improvement,” he told the Guardian. People, he said, were still buying it.
Fashion likes to see itself as a reflection of the culture. But it is also about aspiration and fantasy, and dressing for the world you want – rather than the one you actually have.
