01IN 1966 YVES SAINT LAURENT PUT A WOMAN IN A TUXEDO. LE
SMOKING, FROM HIS AUTUMN-WINTER COUTURE COLLECTION, WAS THE
FIRST EVENING TROUSER SUIT CUT FOR WOMEN: BLACK JACKET, SATIN
LAPELS, AN ORGANZA BLOUSE. MENSWEAR, REBUILT FOR THE FEMALE BODY.
02IT WAS TOO EARLY. COUTURE CLIENTS WERE SCANDALISED, AND THE
STORY GOES ONLY ONE SMOKING SOLD THAT SEASON. THE READY-TO-
WEAR VERSION AT HIS NEW RIVE GAUCHE BOUTIQUE THEN SOLD AND
SOLD. THE STREET UNDERSTOOD IT BEFORE THE SALON DID.
03THE GARMENT KEPT GETTING WOMEN STOPPED AT THE DOOR. IN 1968
NAN KEMPNER REACHED LA COTE BASQUE IN NEW YORK IN HER
SMOKING AND WAS REFUSED FOR WEARING TROUSERS. SHE TOOK THE
TROUSERS OFF AND WORE THE JACKET AS A MINI DRESS INSTEAD.
04THE IMAGE THAT FIXED IT IN HISTORY CAME IN 1975. HELMUT NEWTON
SHOT LE SMOKING FOR FRENCH VOGUE IN A NARROW PARIS STREET,
HAIR SLICKED, A CIGARETTE LIT. ANDROGYNOUS, COOL, IN CHARGE.
THE PHOTOGRAPH DID WHAT THE RUNWAY COULD NOT.
05SAINT LAURENT BELIEVED IN IT. HE PUT A SMOKING IN NEARLY EVERY
COLLECTION UNTIL HE RETIRED IN 2002, MORE THAN 200 VERSIONS.
'FASHIONS FADE,' HE SAID OF THE TUXEDO. 'STYLE IS ETERNAL.'
06THE DINNER JACKET HAD BELONGED TO MEN FOR GENERATIONS. SAINT
LAURENT CUT IT FOR A WOMAN AND LEFT THE POWER INTACT. LE
SMOKING OUTLIVED THE OUTRAGE. IT IS NOW SHORTHAND FOR A
WOMAN WHO DRESSES ON HER OWN TERMS.