Saint Laurent hits Paris catwalk with broad-shouldered glamour

Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello drew his Paris Fashion Week audience into a dark, chandelier-lined runway Tuesday night, sending out a lineup of night-club-ready eveningwear derived from office classics - blazers, pinstripes and pencil skirts.

The show opened with a series of sharp-shouldered suit jackets – extra wide, double-breasted – worn over silk tops and slender, knee-skimming skirts.

Models marched down a carpeted catwalk on spiky, pointy-toed sling-backs, some with scarves trailing behind, as the styles moved between airy, feminine pussy bow blouses and more assertive masculine styles, like hulking bomber jackets and long, tailored coats in red plaid.

Aviator glasses and slicked-back hair styles completed the glamorous looks.

The set, which included low-hanging bronze chandeliers, evoked the ballroom of the Intercontinental Hotel, the label’s favoured venue for haute couture collections in the late 1970s through the start of the 2000 – but transported into a “radically contemporary black-box setting”, according to the label’s show notes.

The temporary venue was set in the label’s traditional spot facing the Eiffel Tower, which glittered as the last guests streamed out after the show.

The Kering-owned label grew strongly last year, passing 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in sales, and the group plans to expand its retail network this year.