Le Smoking
Created in 1966 by famous couturier Yves Saint Laurent, the Le Smoking tuxedo 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 collection created huge negative responses at first. The designer took bits and pieces from both men’s suit and women’s clothing and combined it with new ideas. As the tuxedo was designed for females, they were 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 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 in modern-day society. Fashion photography echoes the influence of this suit in shoots that feature androgynous models with slicked-back hair in a mannish three-piece suit, a style that was first popularised in photographs by Helmut Newton. It was notably modelled by singer Françoise Hardy, 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. 

In French and many other languages, the pseudo-anglicism "smoking" is a generic colloquialism referring to any kind of tuxedo/black tie clothing. It is a false friend deriving from the Victorian fashion of the smoking jacket.
Q171556
Yves Saint Laurent
PER
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tuxedo
Concept
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power suits
Concept
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pantsuit
Concept
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Fashion photography
Concept
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androgynous
Concept
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Helmut Newton
PER
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Françoise Hardy
PER
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pseudo-anglicism
Concept
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a generic colloquialism
Concept
Q44928
black tie
Concept
Q202961
false friend
Concept
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smoking jacket
Concept
Q6507688
Le Smoking
MISC
1966-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1966
DATE
2000-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2000
DATE
subclass of
notable work
field of work