Portrait of actress Virginie Efira in 2023. Credit: Rudy Marmet, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
On September 29, 2026, Virginie Efira and Adèle Exarchopoulos attended the Saint Laurent show in Paris in two suits with generous volumes. Brown for Adèle Exarchopoulos, dark for Virginie Efira, their outfits, worn without an apparent shirt, borrow masculine codes associated with the house. Sixty years after Yves Saint Laurent’s first women’s tuxedo, these silhouettes emphasize the shoulders and the width of the trousers.
Two Suits In The Front Row At The Trocadéro
The presentation of the Spring-Summer 2027 women’s collection, by Anthony Vaccarello, took place around the Trocadéro fountain, facing the Eiffel Tower. The two actresses were among the guests at this Paris Fashion Week evening event. Their Saint Laurent looks paired a structured jacket with wide-leg trousers, with an open neckline made possible by the absence of a visible shirt.
At Virginie Efira, the dark ensemble extends all the way down to pointed-toe pumps. The width of the trousers matches that of the jacket, while sunglasses complete the look. The silhouette thus maintains continuity of color and volume. Its fullness concerns both pieces: it does not rely only on an oversized jacket over slim trousers.
The word “oversized,” often used to describe these ensembles, refers specifically to a cut with deliberately enlarged proportions. It conveys the garment’s volume without defining its material or function. A jacket can be roomy while still retaining a sharp structure, especially at the shoulders.
Adèle Exarchopoulos’ Brown And Defined Shoulders
Adèle Exarchopoulos wears a brown suit, whose sharply defined shoulders are the most assertive feature. The loose trousers fall over the shoes. Her hair slicked back clears the face and the top of the jacket. The difference from Virginie Efira lies first in the color and in the way each outfit frames the face.
Brown offers another option beyond the very dark shades generally associated with evening wear. Even so, the two actresses share the same way of wearing the jacket, very open at the front. With no visible shirt, the lapels directly shape the neckline; the garment keeps its structure while lightening the usual layering of pieces.
This comparison makes it possible to compare two silhouettes, but it does not indicate any coordination between the actresses. Nor does it suffice to establish that they are wearing the same model. The most precise reading is still that of two distinct suits, brought together by their volume and their borrowing from menswear.
Yves Saint Laurent’s First Women’s Tuxedo, In 1966
The link with the tuxedo refers to a specific date. According to the Yves Saint Laurent Museum Paris, the designer presented his first women’s tuxedo in his Fall-Winter 1966 haute couture collection. The institution notes that he adapted its codes to the female silhouette, rather than simply reproducing a men’s outfit.
The garment offers an alternative to the evening dress. It shifts a look then associated with men into women’s wardrobes, while preserving the visual impact of the jacket-and-trousers combination. The issue therefore goes beyond the presence of trousers: it is also another way of dressing for a formal occasion.
Its success was not immediate among couture clients, however. The museum states that only one example was sold at first. The version offered by Saint Laurent Rive Gauche then found a younger clientele and a much more favorable reception. Yves Saint Laurent would return to the tuxedo in his collections until 2002.
This history explains the garment’s place in the house’s identity. In 2026, the association between Saint Laurent and the women’s suit rests on sixty years of creations, variations, and ways of wearing it.
Suit, Pantsuit, And Tuxedo: Terms To Distinguish
The tuxedo does, however, have characteristics that cannot be reduced to a dark color or a jacket worn without a shirt. In her column devoted to Betty Catroux, the museum notably recalls the wide satin lapels of the men’s dinner jacket from which it descends. These finishing details belong to a specific history of eveningwear.
The pantsuit has its own place in the designer’s work. The museum places its first Saint Laurent model in Spring-Summer 1967, one year after the tuxedo. It describes fitted sleeves, a cinched waist, and wide trousers, paired with accessories borrowed from both wardrobes.
The distinction makes it easier to read the Trocadéro appearances. Efira’s and Exarchopoulos’ ensembles are suits with trousers; their resemblance to the tuxedo here points to a stylistic kinship. It does not amount to a technical identification of the pieces. The volume and the neckline alone do not make it possible to settle the question.
At Vaccarello’s, Another Reading Of Proportions
The comparison with the 1967 pantsuit highlights a shift in proportions. Where the historical model described by the museum adjusts the sleeves and defines the waist, the suits worn on September 29 favor fuller volumes. The wide-leg trousers provide continuity, while the jackets shift attention to the shoulders.
These appearances are part of the Saint Laurent universe led by Anthony Vaccarello. In the front row of his show, the dialogue with the house’s history comes through both the cut and the way the pieces are combined. Virginie Efira’s dark outfit and Adèle Exarchopoulos’ brown one show two variations on this principle, without reproducing an archival silhouette exactly.
Wearing the jacket without a shirt also has a documented precedent. In the testimony quoted by the museum about Betty Catroux, this close friend of Yves Saint Laurent describes the way she wore the tuxedo: “naked under the jacket, no shirt, no jewelry.” This choice is therefore already part of the garment’s history. On the two actresses, its association with assertive shoulders and wide trousers gives this older practice a contemporary expression.