The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (2024)

Renée Nicole Gray

Fashion History, Yves Saint Laurent

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (1)

Yves Henri Donat MathieuSaint Laurentwas born in Orin, Algeria in 1936 to French parents. He became a fan of fashion early on through reading his mother’s fashion magazines. When he was 13, seeing a performance of Molière’sÉcole des femmes(School for Wives) starring Louis Jouvet inspired him to begin sketching and making costumes. In the years following, in order to showcase his designs, Saint Laurent created his very own Illustre Petit Théâtre, a miniature stage set with paper dolls. These two-dimensional models came to life wearing hundreds of outfits that Saint Laurent both sketched himself and pieced together using his mother’s fashion magazines, plus secretly cut pieces of her clothing. By 1955, teenage Saint Laurent had created 11 dolls with 443 outfits and 105 accessories. Through these paper doll outfits, we begin to see the seedlings of the future Saint Laurent designs that would change fashion forever, including Le Smoking.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (2)

Though Yves Saint Laurent primarily designed dresses during his time at Dior and after starting his own fashion house in 1961, his 1966 Autumn/Winter “Pop Art” collection contained one standalone look that would revolutionize women’s wear forever. Dubbed “Le Smoking”, (because the word smoking in French quite literally translates to tuxedo), this sleek outfit was groundbreaking since no designer had ever presented pants as evening wear before. Le Smoking was unapologetically androgynous and blurred the gender lines in a manner that was entirely unheard of in haute couture. The look consisted of a 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. This take on a men’s tuxedo reframed sexuality because its sleek and flattering cut allowed women to look and feel attractive and powerful without showing skin or wearing figure-hugging dresses. Le Smoking truly embodied the effortless, elegant, sophisticated chicness that French fashion is so famous for.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (3)

Yves Saint Laurent recalled that one part of his inspiration for Le Smoking had come from seeing images of Marlene Dietrich wearing men’s clothing in the 1930’s. He noted “A tuxedo, a blazer or a naval officer’s uniform — a woman dressed as a man must be at the height of femininity to fight against a costume that isn’t hers.”

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (4)
The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (5)

Saint Laurent also drew significant inspiration for this Le Smoking from his friend and muse, model Danielle Luquet de Saint Germaine whom he met in the early 1960’s. Luquet recalled “One morning I arrived at the same time as Yves, dressed in a pair of pants and a men’s trench. After the presentation, he asked me if I could leave him my clothes for inspiration.” Saint Laurent later recalled that to him, Luquet represented the body and gestures of typical modern women and that she helped him to move past outdated references. Luquet would also inspire Saint Laurent’s first see-through blouse and the iconic la saharienne.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (6)

Le Smoking debuted just as the sexual revolution was taking off and women were beginning to express their newfound freedom with fashion. Despite this, many people still found the idea of women wearing a tuxedo as evening wear shocking and scandalous. Le Smoking was far ahead of its time. Even Saint Laurent’s couture clients rejected the look at first and only one was sold. On the contrary, the ready-to-wear, lower-priced, SAINT LAURENT Rive Gauche version of Le Smoking began selling like crazy to his younger clientele. Saint Laurent once said that his aim was “not just to make women more beautiful, but to reassure them and give them confidence.”It was clear that this daring design was succeeding in doing just that.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (7)

Though more women were adopting Yves Saint Laurent’s empowering outfit into their wardrobes, some faced backlash when wearing them in public. The gender confusion the look created made many people uncomfortable. French pop singer Françoise Hardycaused a stir when she wore her Le Smoking in the 1966 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on a float promoting her upcoming film Grand Prix, and was loudly heckled when wearing it to the Paris Opera.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (8)

The most legendary story regarding Le Smoking backlash happened in 1968 when socialite Nan Kempner was told by the maître d’ at La Côte Basque in Manhattan that she could not enter because her trousers violated the dress code. In response, she dropped her pants and proceeded to dine wearing just her long jacket as a mini-dress to prove their dress code was nonsensical. When Kempner passed away in 2005, Saint Laurent told New York Magazine, “Nan exemplified the true spirit of a modern woman.” Model Danielle Luquet de Saint Germaine had a similar issue, and recalled “The summer Saint Laurent created the tuxedo, I borrowed it for an evening to wear at the Casino of Deauville, but I was refused entry.”

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (9)

Free-spirited women like Kempner and Hardy were attracted to Le Smoking because it exemplified their personalities. For other women, donning the look must have been an act of rebellion, freeing them from feminine codes of behavior. This kind of power dressing allowed women to look and feel sexy while leaving behind the objectification that came along with wearing a sexy dress. It made a statement that women could be equal to men in more ways than just wearing a suit.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (10)

By the time Saint Laurent unveiled his Spring/Summer collection in Feb. 1967, he had fully embraced the popularity of the Le Smoking aesthetic. This collection marked the release of his first pantsuit and also featured an updated Smoking design with a snug cropped dinner jacket touting a shawl collar and open neckline to reveal more of the ruffled blouse.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (11)
The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (12)

After the show, Women’s Wear Daily published a review stating “American women are going to want to burn all the clothes they have when they see this … Saint Laurent’s new Vastsuits in men’s wear fabrics are the sensation of the Paris season … What a show—it could have come right off Broadway.”

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (13)

During the 1970’s Le Smoking saw a huge increase in popularity. In 1971 a Smoking jacket was worn by Bianca Jagger Perez-Mora Macias for her wedding to Mick Jagger. Numerous other celebrities including Liza Minelli, LouLou de la Falaise, and Lauren Bacallwere known for wearing the look. There’s no doubt that without Le Smoking, we would not have had the power dressing trend that dominated the second half of the 1970’s through the 1980’s. This important movement was driven by the desire of women to feel both feminine and powerful in professional situations typically dominated by men.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (14)

Le Smoking was truly immortalized in 1975 when Helmut Newton captured its gender-freeing essence in a photo shoot for French Vogue, taken on the narrow street outside his Paris apartment. Here he juxtaposed the androgyny of Le Smoking with the femininity and eroticism of the naked female body. These photos made Le Smoking even more iconic, and their style would be emulated by fashion photographers for years to come.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (15)
The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (16)
The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (17)

The era that produced Le Smoking can never be recaptured, but its energy, exploration, and curiosity still ooze from the elegant lines of this iconic tuxedo, making us feel a hint of nostalgia. Its impact is so enduring that nearly every major modern designer has created their own version inspired by it. Yves Saint Laurent was keenly aware of the importance of Le Smoking. He included his own reinvented takes on the original in his collections every year until he retired in 2002. When asked about the success of Le Smoking several years later, Jean-Pierre Derbourd (former technical director at Yves Saint Laurent) noted that a special technique was used to help the garment achieve its distinct shape. “We never pinned sleeves according to an arm hanging down, but on to a bent arm, hand on hip.” Saint Laurent’s final creation at his couture house was to make an exact replica of the suit that had come to define his legacy.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (18)
The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (19)

Today, nearly 60 years after its creation, Le Smoking remains an empowering, edgy, and symbolic choice of fashion that is frequently worn by models and celebrities. Saint Laurent’s current creative director Anthony Vaccarello has made it a point to continually push the boundaries of Le Smoking in some of his new collections while honoring the elements that made it iconic. This revolutionary outfit changed the trajectory of women’s fashion forever more, and given its legacy and constant evolution, Le Smoking’s appeal will never be relinquished.

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (20)

Sources:

https://museeyslparis.com/en/biography

https://www.vogue.fr/fashion/fashion-news/diaporama/le-smoking-by-saint-laurent/14801

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/danielle-luquet-saint-germain-to-auction-couture-collection-6915021/

https://exhibitions.fitnyc.edu/blog-ysl-halston/yves-saint-laurents-rive-gauche-revolution/

https://www.vogue.com/article/le-smoking-suit-runway-ysl

http://www.fashionstudiomagazine.com/2011/10/yves-saint-laurent.html

https://www.allure.com/story/yves-saint-laurent-fashion-timeline

https://www.wmagazine.com/story/yves-st-laurent

https://www.icon-icon.com/en/le-smoking-the-story-behind-a-constantly-reinvented-piece/

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/07/business/yves-saint-laurent-announces-retirement.html

https://www.lifestyleasia.com/ind/style/ysls-le-smoking/

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140710-smoking-hot-the-womans-tuxedo

https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/bianca-jagger-wedding-suit

The complete history of Yves Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking (2024)

FAQs

What is the history of the YSL tuxedo? ›

In his Autumn-Winter 1966 collection, Yves Saint Laurent introduced his most iconic piece: the tuxedo. This garment, which was meant to be worn in a smoking room to protect one's clothing from the smell of cigars, was originally reserved only for men.

What is the history of the Saint Laurent brand? ›

History. The eponymous brand was established in 1962 by designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. The brand's logos were designed in 1963 by A. M. Cassandre. During the 1960s and 1970s, YSL popularized the beatnik look, safari jackets, tight pants, and thigh-high boots.

What is special about Yves Saint Laurent? ›

He approached his aesthetic from a different perspective by helping women find confidence by looking both comfortable and elegant at the same time. He is also credited with having introduced the "Le Smoking" tuxedo suit for women and was known for his use of non-European cultural references and of diverse models.

What happened to Yves Saint Laurent? ›

In 1983, Saint Laurent became the first living designer to be honored with an exhibition of his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Saint Laurent died of brain cancer in 2008, shortly after a civil union with his longtime partner Pierre Berge.

What is the history of Le Smoking tuxedo? ›

Le Smoking – a suit for women – was launched as part of Yves Saint Laurent's 1966 'Pop Art' collection. Its name, which roughly translates to 'tuxedo' in French, pays homage to the precursor to modern black tie – the silk-lapelled smoking jacket, designed to protect men's clothes from ash in the late 1800s.

Why is tuxedo called smoking? ›

In French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Persian, Turkish, and other European languages the style is referred to with the pseudo-anglicism smoking (esmoquin). This generic colloquialism is a false friend deriving from its similarity with the 19th century smoking jacket.

Why is it no longer called Yves Saint Laurent? ›

Hedi Slimane, who was named creative director of the brand in 2012, brought other significant changes with him. For instance, he changed the brand's name: Yves Saint Laurent became Saint Laurent Paris. This re-branding also included the incorporation of an edgy aesthetic, which Saint Laurent is known for today.

Is YSL a high-end brand? ›

Originally a House of Haute Couture, Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized the way fashion and society merge and interact in 1966 with the introduction of high-end made clothes produced on a larger scale than the exclusive collections.

Why did YSL drop the Y? ›

We hear the issue was brought up by Slimane in the interest of giving the brand more of a fresh, modern feel as he begins his tenure there. Thus, our source said, the iconic YSL logo shall be no more. (Though we suspect, if this really ends up happening, YSL SL will come up with something better than the above.)

Who is the YSL girl? ›

Yves Saint Laurent met one of his closest friends, Betty Catroux, in a nightclub in 1967. They immediately become inseparable.

What makes YSL stand out? ›

Perhaps Yves Saint Laurent's most iconic piece is the smoking tuxedo, which shook up the entire fashion world in the 1960s. Le Smoking, the sharply tailored, all-black tuxedo, remains the signature style that defines Yves Saint Laurent's impact on fashion.

What is the difference between Yves Saint Laurent and YSL? ›

Are YSL and Saint Laurent the same company? Yes, YSL stands for Yves Saint Laurent, the original designer and creator of the brand. The acronym is still used for perfumes and cosmetics, though the clothing and accessory have been rebranded as just Saint Laurent, dropping his given name Yves.

Why was YSL banned? ›

The U.K.'s advertising watchdog banned a Saint Laurent advert for spring 2015, when Hedi Slimane was at the design helm of the brand, on the grounds that the model in it “appeared unhealthily underweight.”

What was Yves St Laurent's mental illness? ›

As Bergé admits, Saint Laurent was a manic-depressive who was 'born with a nervous breakdown'. 'Exactly that: manic and depressive. This means periods when he did every sort of thing crazy with happiness, and then the next day it was blackness,' Bergé told The New York Times in 2011.

Who currently owns YSL? ›

Kering (French: [kɛːʁiŋ]) is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Gucci, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, Creed and Alexander McQueen. Pinault S.A. The timber-trading company Pinault S.A. was founded in 1962, by François Pinault.

What is the origin of the tuxedo shirt? ›

While many believe that the tuxedo was created by wealthy American aristocrats attending the Autumn Ball in Tuxedo Park, New York, the Wall Street Journal reports that the garment actually dates back to King Edward VII (then Prince of Wales) in 1865.

What is the most iconic YSL clothing? ›

The Mondrian Dress and Artistry in Fashion

YSL's affinity with art was reflected in his famous Mondrian dress from 1965. This dress, inspired by the abstract paintings of Piet Mondrian, testifies to his ability to seamlessly integrate art and fashion.

Where did the tuxedo originate? ›

From it's aristocratic debut at the Autumn Ball in Tuxedo Park, New York in the late 1800's, to the addition of crisp white bellbottoms circa 1970 (think John Travolta), to the slim cut that populates the contemporary red carpet today, the tuxedo has had many moments, both subtle and outrageous.

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