YSL women’s power suits – Today, trousers severely dominate women’s clothing across all ages and occasions. And that is a good part of Yves Saint Laurent’s legacy. He reshaped traditionally male pieces of clothing for women, in line with the concept of gender equality. And the new concept of democratization of fashion by offering branded ready-to-wear, in the Rive Gosh boutique since 1966, brings mass popularity of Yv Saint Laurent models already in the 1960s.
Already on the keywords of the topic (pioneers of androgynous fashion), Google gives a clear answer: “Yves Saint Laurent brings androgyny, now unisex, to high fashion, offering women pieces from the previously men’s wardrobe as elegant, minimalist options. The revolutionary creation of the first tuxedo for women in 1966. empowered women to wear traditionally masculine clothing with chic, defying the times.”
YSL women’s power suits – Since the 1960s, Saint Laurent had dressed women in traditionally masculine clothing.
The rise of youth-driven fashion in the 1960s challenged the relevance of haute couture, and Saint Laurent enthusiastically embraced it. He began with it as early as the 1960s, in his final collection for Dior, by reinterpreting the non-conformist style in the manner of haute couture.
The Beatnik, in 1960, Yves Saint Laurent’s final Collection for Dior, was a real shock.
Drew inspiration from the existentialists of Paris’s bohemian life on the Left Bank. The collection was mainly black, with a key model, Chicago. First ever seen on the haute couture runway, a black biker’s leather jacket, made of crocodile skin and embossed with a mink. Since then, YSL continued to draw inspiration from street fashion, in resistance to fashion dictates.
The Pea Coat
Already, the first Collection under the YSL brand, in January 1962, was a big success. For the decade, he will continue to follow the path of inventing the modern woman’s wardrobe. Those were the women’s tuxedo in 1966, following the pea coat and trench coat of his first collection, then the safari jacket and the first women’s pantsuit in 1968.
The jacket
The first basic garment, 1962, was showcased at the show that premiered after YSL’s brand establishment.
Previously, a navy, thick woolen coat, Saint Laurent reshaped it into a warm and cozy one. Gold buttons gave a festive look. The simple shape sculpted the silhouette. The fact that it covered the hips made it ideal for women, not yet daring to wear pants, as it accentuated the female form.
Here, Jean Newington, from Sydney, wore it with white shantung pants and navy leather sandals, photo by Jacques Verroust.
After a woman’s leather jacket and a Navy coat, YSL continued the practice of borrowing from menswear to make women feel comfortable and confident, and a tuxedo was the main achievement. Was it fashion as resistance, chic, defiant, and outrageous? For real, Saint Laurent didn’t start a riot, but simply gave women equality. Though his haute couture clientele initially resisted, the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear version triumphed.
Women’s tuxedo debuted as the look of YSL’s autumn/winter 1966 collection.
The first English Smoking jacket, sewn for the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, by tailor Henry Pole in 1865. Began as a simple dressing gown for men in smoking rooms to protect their suits from the smell of cigars. The English name tuxedo originates from a New Jersey club called the Tuxedo Club.
Man’s tuxedo (called a smoking in French) inspired Saint Laurent to create a new staple of the modern woman’s wardrobe. Yves Saint Laurent debuted the first smoking ensemble in his Autumn/Winter 1966 collection.
Unveiling the tuxedo in 1966, Yves Saint Laurent detonated a social code. Until then, for women, formal wear meant silk, chiffon, and tulle gowns. Feminine was soft, pretty, and exposed. Tuxedo fitted to men. Saint Laurent took the crisp lines, structure, and confidence and reshaped them into a female form. He softened it where it needed to curve, nipped it at the waist, and added a touch of sensuality in the line of the lapel. This stunned the critics.
The original version featured straight cigarette pants and a jacket, a long, close-fitting cut. Complete with a white organdy shirt, a jabot, a floppy necktie, a satin belt, and heels.
YSL women’s power suits – Fashion fights for gender equality.
Once, struck by a photograph of Marlene Dietrich wearing men’s clothes, the designer realised the power of femininity in a male costume. The idea led to women’s means of getting involved in social activities, moving around at any time without restriction, and even lighting up a cigarette on the street at night, and enjoying their own time.
Tuxedo, a sleek outfit, was groundbreaking since no one ever presented pants in evening wear before. Undoubtedly androgynous, it blurred the gender lines in a manner entirely unheard of in haute couture. The black wool jacket with prominent front flap pockets and a silk-satin lapel, a ruffled organza jabot blouse, and slacks with a satin side-stripe, accessorized with a black floppy bow and cummerbund.
In the 1960s, societal rules still dictated where and how a woman could wear pants. And then Yves Saint Laurent discovered their power in 1966, when he unveiled his first Le Smoking: a tuxedo for women worn with a white shirt and a satin cummerbund. So, Nan Kempner’s incident became legend. When she was denied service at Le Côte Basque for wearing Saint Laurent’s tuxedo, she reportedly slipped off her trousers and entered, wearing just the jacket as a mini dress.
YSL women’s power suits – In 1975, for Vogue Paris, Newtons shot a defining era.
However, the Women’s world still had to wait until the real rise of tuxedos and suits. In fact, Helmut Newton shot a Danish model, Vibeke Knudsen, in the iconic Saint Laurent tuxedo for French Vogue in 1975.
According to the myth, it happened in the Parisian alleyway, Rue Aubriot. This is a shot of a woman with slicked hair, wearing a Saint Laurent tuxedo, white tie, smoking a cigarette, standing beneath the glow of Parisian streetlights. Shadow, silence, and powerful study in contrasts, masculine tailoring met feminine allure, control with seduction. A piece of iconography that has never gone out of fashion.
So, Yves Saint Laurent enabled women to feel continuously fashionable, wearing not a fashion garment, but a stylish one. As he himself said: “Fashions fade, but style is eternal.”
Despite all accompanying controversies, Le Smoking (tuxedo), with its sharply tailored, minimalist lines, forever changed the way women’s clothing was perceived. Saint Laurent continued to include a version of the tuxedo in all his collections until 2002.
YSL women’s power suits – First three-piece, striped pantsuit for women
A year after the tuxedo, Yves Saint Laurent introduced the first three-piece trouser suit in his Spring/Summer 1967 collection. It was an unprecedented version of the women’s suit, traditionally worn with a skirt.
Similar to a woman’s tuxedo, Saint Laurent tailored the pantsuit to the female body. Classic formal line, but carefully tailored. A waist-length jacket with narrow sleeves, while wide trousers are perfectly fit to a woman’s silhouette. Ensembles are completed with traditional ties and hats, but also typical feminine accessories, such as bows, jewelry, and heels. The trouser suit has become a fashion phenomenon.
YSL women’s power suits – Rive Gauche Democratizing high fashion
The genius of Saint Laurent was in his ability to make the avant-garde accessible. His designs, although revolutionary, were wearable and sought after both in the fashion world and in our neighborhood. Excellent, for making models more available, he soon opened a ready-to-wear line. The first freestanding couture store, Rive Gauche Saint Laurent, opened on the left bank of the Seine in September 1966. Soon after, Ted Lapidus, Emanuel Ungaro, Pierre Cardin, and Andre Courrèges all opened their shops.
On the opening day, Yves Saint Laurent and Ulla Caremby were outside his Rive Gauche boutique. The model wears a skirt and sweater from a ready-to-wear collection. He created the series himself until 1998, when Albert Elbaz became the director of the ready-to-wear line.
Photo by Henri Elwing, Yves Saint Laurent with his models.
On June 9, 1971, Yves Saint Laurent appeared in French Elle, with models wearing nearly identical ensembles – right from his latest haute couture collection, and left from his ready-to-wear line, Rive Gauche. Yves Saint Laurent explained that he was now designing his couture along the same lines as his ready-to-wear.
Then, in 1972, he said: “What is modern in clothes today is to have a skirt, pants, shirt, sweater, coat, and raincoat and to mix everything… [but] the items of the mix cannot be expensive. While in Couture, everything costs a lot, so women can’t play with clothes.
The safari jacket
With the Saharienne jacket in 1967, Yves Saint Laurent reinterpreted a menswear garment. This time, borrowing from military style, a four-pocket jacket in cotton or linen canvas from the British army. YSL also drew inspiration from his homeland for the Saharienne jacket.
Safari look is also among the YSL symbols. Just mentioning Saharienne evokes a photo by Franco Rubatelli, 1968. Veruschka in Savannah, with the rifle on her shoulders. And just one year later, safari style has completely changed.
The safari jacket began in the 1930s, among European colonial forces in Africa. Then, versions of the Khaki military uniforms were worn on safari trips in the African savanna. But Yves Saint Laurent finally introduced it in 1967. show.
Here, in the photo at the opening of the Rive Ghosh boutique in London, in 1969. Three friends in various ensembles of the Sahara style. Saint Laurent with a tunic and loose belt; Betty Catroux in a mini dress with thigh-high boots, and Loulou de la Falaise in a new-fashioned jacket with midi skirt.
YSL women’s power suits – The Jumpsuit
One of the typical Saint Laurent reinterpretations of a utilitarian garment. The jumpsuit was first shown in the Spring-Summer 1968 collection. Originally a functional garment worn by aviators, its volume concealed the shape of the male body.
Jumpsuit/overall, an evening ensemble, model Danielle Luquet de Saint Germain, Spring/summer 1968.
Contrary to the originally functional garments, Yves Saint Laurent designed his jumpsuit to achieve the opposite effect by revealing the curves of the female body. That`s how it became an overall, evening version, in black silk knit. It was a success, and the following season, YSL launched other overall designs, wide and long, of silk knit with sequins.
Sheer clothes without a bra in high fashion, as a statement of gender equality.
Yves Saint Laurent, a brawler and a pioneer, made a real revolution in the world of fashion. As he himself said, “I prefer to shock rather than bore people with repetition.” This also characterized his approach to fashion. Indeed, he mostly shocked his contemporaries with his innovative, progressive design.
Sheer Sensuality: Saint Laurent’s sheer blouses and nude illusions were daring yet elegant, challenging taboos and redefining femininity.
For Saint Laurent was a different rebellion during the miniskirt era. The braless model in a sheer organza blouse or gown with a feathered trim, less about pleasing the viewer and more about asserting equality between the sexes.
Anyway, this caused a scandal at first sight, in 1968. However, aware of the power of the female body, Saint Laurent offered women the choice of what they wanted to wear, rather than letting society dictate traditional roles.
YSL women’s power suits – A Legacy of Innovation.
A series of transformations throughout Saint Laurent’s career has led to the rejection of traditional dress codes in favor of personal choices. Since the founders’ retirement, the brand has continued to evolve under the creative direction of designers like Tom Ford, Hedi Slimane, and, currently, Anthony Vaccarello. Each has brought their own vision to the house, but the DNA remains: a commitment to elegance, innovation, and empowerment. Recent collections have embraced gender fluidity, sustainability, and modern minimalism, proving that Saint Laurent’s legacy is as dynamic as ever.
Anthony Vaccarello for YSL Spring/Summer 2025, ready-to-wear Collection.
The current creative director of the Brand pays tribute to the founder`s legacy and the codes he created, especially in the 1970s and ’80s. Saint Laurent, for decades, dressed women in suits. But Vaccarello goes further. His designs are even those Saint Laurent would wear, especially when paired with YSL glasses. So, a businesswoman looks confident in a comfortable, masculine suit and tie. In colors beige, gray, and black suits, as well as leather bomber jackets. Outfits a subtle balance of masculine elements with the femininity of the model.
Then, the show goes in a more traditionally feminine direction. Runway of casual pajama pants and flowing chiffon maxi skirts worn with massive bead necklaces as boho-chic’s return.
And finally, for the night, the shining party girls. There was a series of glittering brocade jackets, worn with high-neck lace tops and tiered silk miniskirts layered over yet more lace. The colours bring life to the runway, golds and greens colliding with deep reds. Vaccarello showed that the Saint Laurent woman is all about that power, but she also knows how to seduce and have fun. Do you like the new YSL image?
Conclusion
The contemporary Saint Laurent offer includes classic women’s and unisex clothes. The focus is on elegance and precise cut. And the distinctive style combines practicality and elegance, creating functional yet sophisticated clothing. Therefore, the women’s collection includes comfortable suits for work, casual combinations for leisure time, and seductive outfits for a night out. Women also like unisex pieces, cozy sweaters, and jackets from the men’s collection.
Now, when finishing my YSL mini-series (YSL Art meets fashion, and Mondrian`s paint Laurent`s dress), I am closing the circle with women’s clothing transformations. Since the revolutionary conquest of power and freedom through clothing (1960s), until contemporary emphasizing femininity and free choices as well.
With best wishes,
Sincerely, Branka on Textiles
