Saint Laurent shines a new light on daywear as Lanvin draws on England’s St George

If I had been asked which design house might show the most desirable coats at Paris Fashion Week, Yves Saint Laurent would have been towards the bottom of the list. Not because the label can’t make an excellent topper – there are some truly exquisite leather and wool crombie styles in its commercial collection

– but because the shows are usually all about glamazon party girls for whom one spangly layer is quite enough.

And so it was that two extreme wide-shouldered, exaggerated lapel, sharp-with-a-hint-of-slouch wool coats created the first big surprise of the week when they were worn in the first two looks of Saint Laurent’s autumn/ winter 2019 show on Tuesday night.

There was more in this new foray into daywear from creative director Anthony Vaccarello: slinky tailored trousers, zebra and leopard pencil skirts with tactile panels of feathers and beautiful high-waisted, tiered leather midis – this is “day” for the Saint Laurent woman, lest we forget.

The Eighties-influenced look drew on Saint Laurent’s “iconic muses”, Betty Catroux, Bianca Jagger and Catherine Deneuve; Jagger and Deneuve, both in black and leopard print, were watching from the front row. Several models had the same blunt fringe, peroxide hair as Catroux and many looks were imbued with the dark sophistication of the costumes that Saint Laurent created for Deneuve’s 1983 film The Hunger.

The party girl was not left disappointed, however. Sequinned micro-minis, feathered stiletto boots and tuxedo dresses (a reminder of the tale of socialite Nan Kempner attempting to get into New York restaurant La Côte Basque in her YSL suit, being told trousers were not suitable attire and removing them so that all she had on was a blazer) were accessorised with beautiful skullcaps. The finale became a rave-like parade of neons under strobe lighting; Saint Laurent in its natural habitat.

Yesterday, Lanvin looked to emerge from a period in the fashion wilderness since the departure of creative director Alber Elbaz in 2015. Bruno Sialelli, whose appointment was announced in January, is the fourth incumbent to the post in as many years.

At the 13th-century Musée de Cluny, Sialelli made a confident debut with a collection (pictured) that drew on some of the signatures of founder Jeanne Lanvin – such as a cardigan/dress hybrid in her beloved shade of pale blue. Other highlights included low-heel knee boots with silky legs, diaphanous maxi dresses and sumptuous colour combinations. For English patriots, a velvet evening gown embroidered with St George slaying scene the dragon. Whether medieval re-enactment can woo a new tribe of devotees remains to be seen.