If ever there were a moment to convince even the sloppiest of dressers to consign the threadbare hoodies and stretched, sagging sweatpants that uniformed the now all-but-forgotten days of the pandemic to the darkest nether regions of their wardrobes, then Saint Laurent’s AW23 show was it. Taking place, as it almost always does, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower during PFW, Anthony Vaccarello’s proposition for the new season cut through fashion week like a razor-sharp knife – albeit one that would have been put to shame by the sharpness of the shoulders of the boxy blazer jackets that formed the cornerstones of the new collection. 

Power dressing is back, baby, Vaccarello’s army of icy, insouciant replicants silently screamed into the freezing cold Paris night, its air permeated by the clouds of perfumed smoke that billowed from the specially-erected, YSL-emblazoned cube the show played out in. Inside, the space had been kitted out to look like the ballroom of the Hotel Intercontinental on Rue Castiglioni. With enormous glittering chandeliers swinging from the ceiling and a luxurious swirling carpet underfoot, it was a reimagining of the place where Yves himself once debuted his couture collections, and woof, did it smell rich.

So did the women. Towering above the audience on an elevated catwalk, the models sauntered unbothered through the venue in the collection’s angular jackets, their broadened shoulders demanding space, hems hitting just below the hip of slinky pencil skirts that sat just above the knee, any idea of coyness banished by the sexy sliced slits to the seams. Eyes were obscured by massive aviators, hands tucked into the pockets of slim trousers, and somehow, Vaccarello even managed made the kind of American Tan drugstore hosiery your granny slithers into on special occasions a seductive proposition. Shoes were sky-high and vertiginous, their bitchy stiletto heels made even more desirable by the fact that, this season, models had no trouble navigating the narrow catwalk. 

With the notion of power dressing intrinsically linked to office life and the ascent up the corporate ladder, historically women had to emulate men to fight their way to the top – or at least attempt to keep up with them – in the workplace. This meant dialling down the femininity and amping up the silhouette to resemble that of a man’s – hence the broadening of the shoulders, the narrowing of the hip, the added height. Now, power dressing means different things to different people, and in 2023, it could just as likely entail sloping to the office in a baggy, bolshy, logo-adorned tracksuit as it might a severe business suit and pair of heels. 

That said, there’s no denying the lure of Saint Laurent’s silhouette and the immaculate collection Vaccarello turned out this season, debuted as fashion conversations suggest a vibe shift is edging us away from streetwear and in the direction of *proper clothes*. Between this outing, his standout AW23 menswear offering, and September’s SS22 women’s line – all floor-sweeping hooded gowns and behemoth coats that looked like they’d been ripped from a high fashion remake of Blade Runner, which is already an incredibly stylish film as it is – the designer has been on something of a roll for a while. When even people who have never previously worshipped at the altar of YSL are coming out of a show gagged and gasping, you know you’re onto something good.