A Fresh Way To Dress
Yves Saint Laurent didn’t simply put women into clothes made for men. Throughout his career, he borrowed familiar pieces from masculine wardrobes, including sailor coats, trench coats, tuxedos, safari jackets, pantsuits, and jumpsuits, then adjusted the fit and styling for women. Sometimes that meant defining the waist or bringing the fabric closer to the body. In other cases, he mixed sharp tailoring with ties, hats, heels, bare skin, or luxurious fabrics. Women could get the ease and authority linked to menswear without giving up glamour, individuality, or sensuality. These 20 Saint Laurent looks show how often he returned to that idea and just how many ways he found to make it work.
1. The Pea Coat, 1962
The first garment shown in Saint Laurent’s debut collection under his own name was a sailor-inspired pea coat. Worn with white shantung pants and mules, the unfitted wool coat took practical naval clothing and made it a staple in a woman’s wardrobe.
2. The Trench Coat, 1962
While keeping the familiar details of a traditional trench coat, like raglan sleeves, double-breasted buttons, and a belt, Laurent decided to shorten its usual length. He also incorporated a waist-cinching belt, giving the military-inspired coat a shape that followed the shape of the body better.
3. Le Smoking, 1966
Saint Laurent introduced his first women’s tuxedo in the Fall-Winter 1966 haute couture collection. While playing on the traditional masculinity of a suit, he adjusted the outfit’s familiar features for a woman’s body. This piece gave women another option for eveningwear and created one of the most recognizable designs of his career.
4. Catherine Deneuve’s Vinyl Trench, 1967
Catherine Deneuve wore a black vinyl trench with knitted sleeves in the 1967 film Belle de Jour. The coat actually came from the 1966 Rive Gauche collection, and its appearance in the movie helped to popularize it.
5. The First Pantsuit, 1967
A year after Le Smoking appeared, Saint Laurent introduced his first pantsuit in the Spring-Summer 1967 haute couture collection. Fitted sleeves and a belted waist softened its masculine structure, while wide trousers, a necktie, a felt hat, heels, and jewelry mixed traditionally male and female styling.
6. The Navy “Gangster” Suit, 1967
The 1967 Rive Gauche “gangster” suit was made from navy pinstripe wool, a fabric closely linked with traditional men’s tailoring. Saint Laurent decided to pair the piece with a polka-dot shirt, which kept the look feeling fresh and fun.
7. The Safari Jacket, 1968
Saint Laurent first showed safari jackets on the runway in 1967, but it was a one-off 1968 version that made it a signature piece. He maintained the cotton gabardine, roomy pockets, and military-influenced details, but with different styling.
8. The Aviator-Inspired Jumpsuit, 1968
The jumpsuit entered Saint Laurent’s collections in Spring-Summer 1968, taking inspiration from the one-piece garments worn by aviators. Traditional versions were roomy enough to hide the body, while his version was a little sleeker, following the natural curve of a woman’s body.
9. The Tie-Dyed Safari Pantsuit, Circa 1969
One 1969 Rive Gauche safari pantsuit paired a pocketed jacket with matching trousers that resembled hand-dyed textiles of the period. That combination brought together the useful structure of safari clothing and the more experimental mood surrounding late-1960s fashion.
10. The Brown Gabardine Pantsuit, 1970
A Spring-Summer 1970 pantsuit in brown wool gabardine showed how naturally trousers had become part of Saint Laurent’s approach to everyday womenswear. The fabric and clean tailoring borrowed from the familiar shape of a man’s suit, but gave women a useful alternative to the frequently changing skirt lengths of the period.
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11. Bianca Jagger’s Wedding Look, 1971
Bianca Jagger married Mick Jagger in Saint-Tropez wearing a white Saint Laurent tuxedo-style jacket with a long skirt and wide-brimmed veiled hat. She didn’t wear a blouse beneath the jacket, leaving the neckline bare. The outfit brought formal menswear tailoring into bridal fashion, sans wedding gown.
12. Jane Fonda’s Oscar Pantsuit, 1972
When Jane Fonda won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Klute, she attended the ceremony in a Yves Saint Laurent trouser suit. Formal gowns were strongly associated with major awards ceremonies, making Fonda’s outfit a unique choice in the era.
13. The Wool Jumpsuit, 1973
Saint Laurent didn’t leave the jumpsuit behind after introducing it in 1968. A wool Rive Gauche version from 1973 showed how easily the design could continue to fit into his womenswear collections. Its one-piece construction created the clean look of coordinated tailoring without requiring several separate garments, making the shape surprisingly flexible.
14. The Plaid Suit, 1975
A 1975 Rive Gauche suit combined brown, fawn, and blue plaid wool with a single-breasted jacket, wide lapels, and sharply flared trousers. Plaid had been a part of menswear for centuries, but the exaggerated proportions gave it a strong 1970s character.
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15. The Rue Aubriot Pantsuit, 1975
Helmut Newton photographed model Vibeke Knudsen wearing a Saint Laurent Fall-Winter 1975 haute couture pantsuit on Paris’s Rue Aubriot. Published in French Vogue, the nighttime photograph became an enduring example of androgynous fashion photography.
16. The “Broadway Suit,” 1978
Saint Laurent’s Spring-Summer 1978 “Broadway Suit” collection repeatedly featured the short Spencer jacket, and gave formal tailoring a more theatrical feel. Worn with either trousers or skirts, women were once again given more flexibility in how they could choose to dress.
17. The Off-White Pinstripe Pantsuit, Circa 1979
A circa-1979 Saint Laurent pantsuit in off-white pinstripe wool offered a lighter take on one of menswear’s most familiar patterns. The suit came from Lauren Bacall, whose wardrobe included Saint Laurent designs. Its pale color moved the pinstripes away from their darker businesswear associations without losing the confident look of traditional tailoring.
18. The Pinstripe Skirt Suit With a Tie, 1982
Saint Laurent didn’t need trousers every time he wanted to play with masculine dressing. One Spring-Summer 1982 outfit paired a black-and-gray pinstripe wool skirt with a white shantung blouse, black silk tie, short bolero, gilt cufflinks, and a black boater.
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19. The Circa-1982 Black Le Smoking
A black Rive Gauche Le Smoking dating combined wool, satin, and silk crepe, later entering a fashion collection from the estate of Tina Chow. More than 15 years had passed since Saint Laurent introduced his original tuxedo, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be altered or changed. Le Smoking remained an important part of his eveningwear collections.
20. The Tuxedo Bolero And Jumpsuit, 2000–01
Near the end of Saint Laurent’s career, a Fall-Winter 2000–01 ensemble brought together two shapes he’d explored many times before: the bolero jacket and the jumpsuit. Tuxedo details connected both pieces to formal menswear. Decades after Le Smoking first appeared, he was still finding different ways to reshape men’s clothing for women.
