Anthony Vaccarello celebrated the 60th anniversary of Yves Saint Laurent's iconic Le Smoking suit with a fall 2026 ready-to-wear collection at Paris Fashion Week. The show featured 14 black trouser suits alongside lace dresses and power dressing elements. It highlighted the house's history while addressing contemporary fashion trends.
The Saint Laurent fall 2026 ready-to-wear collection, presented on March 3, 2026, during Paris Fashion Week, opened with eight dark trouser suits, totaling 14 by the end, evoking the 1966 Le Smoking—a black tuxedo tailored for women that symbolized gender equality and power dressing.
Yves Saint Laurent created Le Smoking in 1966, adapting a men's suit with slimmed trousers and lapels; only one sold from that collection, but it appeared in every lineup until 2002. As Vaccarello noted backstage, marking his 10th year as creative director since 2016, "I feel it’s an obligation to be connected to something, to the history of this house." He incorporated sloping shoulder lines from men's tailoring, making the suits fluid and unlined, with some in pinstripe fabrics featuring plunging necklines.
Counterpoints included silicone-covered lingerie lace body-dresses hardened with latex into jackets and skirts, plus see-through lace in earthy tones of red, orange, and brown, paired with huge fur coats or chunky jewelry. Accessories featured sleek chignons, side-parted gelled hair in buns, Pat McGrath’s smoky eyeshadow, cheekbone shading, and glossy dark red lips, reminiscent of 1970s and 1980s Helmut Newton imagery. Two high-shine rubber raincoats and opulent shearlings added variety, alongside batwing bomber jackets and belted tunics.
The show occurred in a modernist glass "apartment" before the Eiffel Tower illuminated by 20,000 bulbs, with front-row attendees including Kate Moss and Michelle Pfeiffer, and an oversized replica of a bust from Saint Laurent’s home. Amid global events, Pascal Morand of the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion confirmed no changes to the schedule.
Saint Laurent, owned by Kering, reported €2.6 billion in revenue last year, down 8% year-on-year from a 2022 peak of €3.3 billion, though Simon Longland of Harrods described the brand as resilient. Vaccarello emphasized the superior cut of Saint Laurent tuxedos as a "house secret," avoiding handbags on the runway except for finale wallets.
