Paris Latest: Yves Saint Laurent

One imagines the game that you play when the wolves are at the door is a softly softly approach: centre on the archive, don't make any sharp moves or else you'll set the cat amongst the pigeons. We would like to have seen some feathers flying today, but it is understandable why the cat is under quarantine.

Pilati indeed kept it safe. Capes with blown-out backs and skinny rolled sleeves, cowl neck backless halters with cigarette pants, and scarves that seemed to have been fashioned in to tops, which felt a bit of a cheat. Paisley print decorated palazzo pants and long-sleeved dresses and peplum hems ruffed from tops. The @YSL twitter feed called it ‘paisley print with ethnic overtones’. The ethnic came from some jingle jangle belts that we could have done without and the collection was best when stripped bare of what appeared to be afterthought accessories. The shoes, however, were fab: gold capped, kitten or wedge heeled and ankle strapped. A delight.

Pilati has done exceptional thing for Yves Saint Laurent. He revived a flagging label lest not forget, and excelled at modern variations of Le Smoking. If the merry-go-round slows down for a second, he could show his true colours.