Saint Laurent Under Construction during Paris Fashion Week

PARIS (AP)

Kate Moss hid under a hat, Eva Herzigova shivered in the cold, Catherine Deneuve sat poker-faced, while only Charlotte Gainsbourg managed a smile.

Fashion crowds do not usually brave a cold, elemental construction-site at night in Paris unless there's a very good reason.

And this was it -- Anthony Vaccarello's highly-anticipated sophomore collection for the iconic house of Saint Laurent yesterday, the first day of the fall-winter 2017 shows.

The Saint Laurent show venue -- a near-derelict site on the Left Bank that's undergoing construction and renovation -- was a clear metaphor.

Vaccarello is continuing his creative reconstruction of the Parisian house since Hedi Slimane's departure.

As smoke -- or was it dust? -- wafted from the sides of the set scaffolding, the myriad looks began to file by.

They mixed the shimmering disco-dresses from the Slimane years with the peaked, tuxedo shoulders associated with the late house founder Yves Saint Laurent.

But beyond this, the exhaustive collection seemed less to do with Saint Laurent than Vaccarello himself like last season -- in all his brazen, provocative glory.

Plunging necklines met slashed asymmetry. Patent fetish-like black leather came alongside exposed breasts.While uber-mini dresses -- the staple silhouette -- teased the eye with knee-high-, and sometimes stripper-, boots.

Still, there were some nice creative twists, like a leg of mutton sleeve made literally out of mutton.

Elsewhere, there were some skilfully abstract plays on leather ruffles -- and the ruched boots will fly off the shelves.