Sixty years ago, Yves Saint Laurent introduced the world to Le Smoking: a tailored tuxedo suit designed for women. It was scandalous at the time. Audiences at the Paris Opera reportedly erupted when they saw singer Françoise Hardy wearing one. The idea that a woman could dress with the same sartorial authority as a man and look stunning doing so was genuinely threatening to some in 1966. Today, that same garment forms the backbone of Anthony Vaccarello’s Fall 2026 collection for Saint Laurent, which also marks his decade at the house.
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| ✨ 60 years since Yves Saint Laurent introduced Le Smoking in 1966 👔 Anthony Vaccarello marks his 10th year as Saint Laurent creative director 🖤 The tuxedo suit remains the central silhouette of the Fall 2026 collection 🧵 Latex-reinforced lace creates structured jackets, skirts and slip dresses 📏 Daytime pinstripe versions expand Le Smoking beyond eveningwear 👜 Saint Laurent continues to exclude handbags from its runway shows 👠 Accessories include dove-shaped earrings, heavy gold jewelry and slingback heels |
The tuxedo suit, Le Smoking, remains the sharpest argument Saint Laurent has ever made. Vaccarello, who has designed versions of it for women throughout his career, returned to it this season with particular intention. The milestone was already on his mind before he began designing. He has spoken openly about the weight of the house’s history – an inheritance he neither ignores nor allows to paralyze him. His approach is to examine what came before, understand it fully, and then move forward without nostalgia.
The difference between a Saint Laurent tuxedo and the dozens of black pantsuits that appeared elsewhere on the Fall 2026 runways, including in Milan, is easier to see than to explain. The shoulders have a particular slope, borrowed this season from the men’s tailoring of the house. The fabrics are fluid and the lining is minimal. The elongated cut has a plunging neckline that suggests confidence rather than provocation. Vaccarello also developed daytime versions of the suit in fluid pinstripe fabrics, extending the Smoking concept beyond evening wear. This was an important expansion. A garment that once shocked opera-goers now belongs to a woman’s entire day.
Another major theme in the collection was lace. Rather than the soft, romantic kind typically found at a bridal boutique, Vaccarello used lace reinforced with latex to create structured cardigan-like jackets and straight skirts. Alongside those pieces, Vaccarello showed lace slip dresses in color combinations that are immediately recognizable as being specific to this house: slightly unexpected, yet never obvious. The effect was deliberately sensual yet precise.
Sleek chignons, smoky eye makeup, heavy gold jewelry, and earrings shaped like large doves that could double as brooches completed the picture. Long-snouted slingback shoes added a touch of wit. Between the Smoking and structured lace themes came opulent shearlings, batwing bomber jackets, and low-belted tunics with almost medieval silhouettes.
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Under Vaccarello, Saint Laurent remains one of the few luxury houses that does not send handbags down the runway, even though bags and shoes drive much of the business. At the finale, models carried what appeared to be clutches. However, Vaccarello clarified backstage that they were wallets sized to hold a phone, a credit card, and perhaps a photograph. The distinction mattered to him.
Other brands produce tuxedo suits, and some of them are well-made. However, there is something about the Saint Laurent version—the slope of the sleeve, the precision of the trousers – that the house has argued for sixty years and continues to argue convincingly. The Fall 2026 Saint Laurent collection does not reinvent Le Smoking. It simply confirms, once again, why the original was worth fighting for.
