Paris Fashion Week: Saint Laurent autumn/winter 2013 Saint Laurent was all about intensely adult sexiness,

but this collection featur ed cutesy baby doll chiffon dresses with Peter Pan collars, writes Lisa Armstron g. BY LISA ARMSTRONG | 05 MARCH 2013 After so much tricksiness on the catwalks this season, there's undoubtedly virtu e in presenting beautifully cut checked, flared crombie coats with an oversized skew that looked elegant rather than Charlie Chaplinesque, or classic masculine jackets, some with cutaway, frock-coat fronts. The thing is, I'm not sure Hedi Slimane has complete confidence in the understat ed power of his tailoring to carry him through. Why else pepper it with teeny baby doll chiffon dresses that had Peter Pan colla rs and neck ribbons, fishnets, and then toss a Nirvana plaid shirt underneath, o r work a baggy mohair cardigan or duffle into the mix? It's not that it didn't l ook cute. Slimane can style and he can certainly cut a jacket any grown up in th eir right mind would want to invest in. He also has the best taste in music - th is mix, recorded on the road in Australia and Asia came courtesy of Thee Oh Sees . So we get it. Slimane is remaking Saint Laurent. It's young. It's sexy. It's tr? s rock and roll. A gazillion girls who love Urban Outfitters' signature homage t o Seattle Grunge will adore this luxed-up version. Those sparkly fishnets? Sold. Teeny tight leather dresses with bodices almost entirely composed of buckles an d straps? Bring 'em on. And who doesn't love a studded biker boot? No bags by th e way. Here, however, comes the but. Saint Laurent was all about deviant, intensely adu lt, sexiness. Is Slimane's teen spirit an adequate reboot? And although I don't want to start on that name change again, why go to all the trouble to rebrand an d then unfurl two huge banners with the YSL Cassandre outside the Grand Palais? Backstage, Slimane was congratulated by Jamie Hince and Pixie Geldof, to whom th is collection could have been dedicated. While it was good to see Slimane lookin g more relaxed than last season, the journalist in me wanted to ask Catherine De neuve, who was also there, alongside a scarlet lipped and vampily dressed Jessic a Chastain, what she would be wearing from this show. It was not to be. The hous e is making progress in its public relations, but we're not yet at the truth and reconciliation stage where we can actually ask questions. In any case, in some ways, enquiries in this vein are pointless. In the showroom , there are bound to be many more of those fabulous jackets that so many of us w ould like to get our hands on, including the deconstructed beaded cardigan-jacke t, with black trim. However since the press aren't invited to see those, I must base my review on the show which was... puzzling, particularly in a season where menswear is so dominant. You'd imagine a designer who trained in it would be tr anscendent. If Slimane went grunge because he was worried a bunch of menswear clothes wouldn 't be enough on their own on a major Paris catwalk, he has a point. But he needs to have more faith in the enduring allure of beautifully engineered pieces - an d riff on them some more next season. Neither he - nor Saint Laurent - requires the styling tics of a 20-year-old teenage music revolution.