Yves St Laurent le smoking at deYoung Museum San Francisco

Created in 1966 by couturier Yves Saint Laurent, the Le Smoking

tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...

suit for women was the first of its kind to earn attention in the fashion world and in popular culture. The tuxedo suit was designed for women. The inspiration for the suit was the

androgynous Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression. When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics i ...

personal style of Saint Laurent model and muse Danielle Luquet de Saint Germain. The designer took bits and pieces from both men's suits and women's clothing, and combined it with new ideas. As the tuxedo was designed for females, it was different from the normal male tuxedo. The collar was more feminine, as the shape and curve were more subtle. The waistline of the blouse was narrowed to show the body shape, and the pants were adjusted to help elongate the leg. It pioneered long, minimalist, androgynous styles for women, as well as the use of power suits and the

pantsuit A pantsuit, also known as a trouser suit outside the United States, is a woman's suit of clothing consisting of pants and a matching or coordinating coat or jacket. Formerly, the prevailing fashion for women included some form of a coat, p ...

in modern-day society.

Fashion photography Fashion photography is a genre of photography which is devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items, sometimes haute couture. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking a picture of a dressed model in a photographic studio o ...

echoes the influence of this suit in shoots that feature androgynous models with slicked-back hair in a "masculine" three-piece suit, a style that was first popularised in photographs by

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-a ...

.Alexander, Hilary
"Smoke Without Fire."
The Telegraph (Dec. 12, 2005). Menkes, Suzy.br>"A toast to Yves for 'le smoking.'"
The International Tribune (Oct. 10, 2005). It was notably modelled by singer

Françoise Hardy Françoise Madeleine Hardy (; born 17 January 1944) is a French former singer and songwriter. Mainly known for singing melancholic sentimental ballads, Hardy has been an important figure in French pop music since her debut, spanning a career of ...

, who was a muse to the designer. Saint Laurent was seen by many as having empowered women by giving them the option to wear clothes that were normally worn by men with influence and power. This suit has continued to influence fashion designers' collections through the 2000s."Paris honours the Tuxedo, Yves St. Laurent's fashion favourite."
Agence France-Presse (Oct. 3, 2005). In French and many other languages, the

pseudo-anglicism A pseudo-anglicism is a word in another language that is formed from English elements and may appear to be English, but that does not exist as an English word with the same meaning. For example, English speakers traveling in France may be struck ...

''smoking'' refers to tuxedo/

black tie Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...

clothing. It is a

false friend In linguistics, a false friend is either of two words in different languages that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning. Examples include English ''embarrassed'' and Spanish ''embarazada'' 'pregnant'; English ''parents'' ...

deriving from the Victorian fashion of the

smoking jacket A smoking jacket is an informal men's style of lounge jacket originally intended for tobacco smoking, designed in the 1850s. A classic-styled smoking jacket comes in a shawl collar, turn-up cuffs, toggle or button fastenings, or simply be closed ...

References

{{Reflist Semi-formal wear 1970s fashion Suits (clothing) False friends Yves Saint Laurent (brand)