Yves Saint Laurent gives the overall a Paric chic makeover

In Paris, YSL raises overalls to height of fashion

PARIS — Yves Saint Laurent brought the farm to Paris on Friday with a fall-winter 2010-2011 menswear collection built around an urbane, sophisticated take on that old farm favorite, overalls.

The label’s Italian designer, Stefano Pilati, delivered bulky overcoats cinched tight at the waist — sometimes with what appeared to be fringed scarves — and suits with drop-crotched harem pants and long shirts with tails of tiny pleats that emerged, flirtily, from beneath the jackets.

But the uncontested star of the show, which was held in a tiny, sweltering hall in the label’s Paris headquarters, were the overalls. In a charcoal or butterscotch tweed, they were cut like old time men’s swimsuits, with thin straps and a low-cut bib. One pair was worn with a pair of over-the-elbow gloves, for an added dose of glamor.

The result was surprising but immediately appealing, and it was easy to imagine the well-dressed crowd of fashion insiders strutting their stuff on the streets of Paris next fall in Pilati’s overalls.