A new party manifesto

Tom Ford took up the tux cause where Yves Saint Laurent left off. Picture / Reuters

Selecting an evening dress is perplexing," declares the doyenne of fashion agony aunts, Mrs Exeter, in September's issue of American Vogue. "Lucky are the ladies who have Paris couturiers to guide them. The rest of us have department stores and dressing-room mirrors - not always easy."

Right. There are few more fraught, or indeed exciting, fashion moments in a woman's life than the search for the perfect evening-wear. And for all the talk this season of a new formality in fashion, most of us are still not used to dressing up.

How many people do you know who are wearing the jewel-coloured, fine-leather gloves that every fashion editor has been promoting as the accessory du jour?

So the question remains: what exactly should we wear?

Of course, labels such as Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace always offer some of the most show-stopping corseted, silk, satin and crystal-embellished gowns of the season - they take evening-wear (which doubles up as red-carpet wear) very seriously.

If classic glamour is your preference, it would be hard to better Chanel's black full-length backless gown, as worn by Nicole Kidman in the much-hyped commercial for No 5 perfume. This achingly lovely garment is, without doubt, the star of that particular show.

Other designers are more modern in their approach. Helmut Lang is over what he describes as "an aversion to any dress that falls below the knee" and has put the cool back into evening-wear that grazes the ankle - always asymmetrically and embellished with everything from tufts of horsehair to sailor's knots.

And Marc Jacobs - similarly backwards in coming forwards where high-octane dressing is concerned - promises his adoring public a take on the party dress - puffy prom-queen affairs crafted in the sort of clear, bright colours that make the heart sing. Meanwhile, the vintage-inspired beaded and embroidered cocktail dress (yawn ... ) continues to be aired every season.

For those with more rigorous tastes, there's nothing more stylish, and glamorous, than a tuxedo trouser-suit. In contrast to the girlish competition, a more masculine look is refreshing. Le Smoking was one of Yves Saint Laurent's major contributions to 20th-century women's fashion. Starting in 1966, it has featured, in various permutations, every season until his retirement, 35 years later. As photographed in particular by the late Helmut Newton in a Paris backstreet, Le Smoking attained iconic status. Tom Ford, until recently Saint Laurent's successor at the ready-to-wear arm of the label, was too happy to uphold that tradition.

The best of today's tuxedos for women, however, have come from Jean Paul Gaultier, for those wealthy enough to afford haute couture, and Viktor & Rolf, for the less-well-heeled mortals. "We have always referenced stereotypes in clothing," the two Dutch-born designers say - and everything from the trenchcoat to the little black dress, the white shirt to the hacking jacket, has appeared on their runway over the past 10 years, though such garments are sometimes given exaggerated proportions - a balloon of a sleeve, say, or a bow that threatens to engulf the model.

For all their avant-garde status, Viktor & Rolf are sensational tailors, and thus, in many ways, Saint Laurent's natural heirs. Certainly, the trouser suit owes more than a little to the great couturier and he should feel proud that, in V&R's capable hands, this classic menswear design, when worn by a woman, continues to exude a smouldering sexual ambiguity and power that no amount of elaborate corsetry, silk, satin and crystal - let alone vintage-inspired beaded and embroidered cocktail dress - could ever hope to rival.

- INDEPENDENT