On Monday, January 29, 1962, a crowd gathered to attend the presentation of Yves Saint Laurent's first collection at 30 bis rue Spontini in Paris.

There were, among others, the Countess of Paris, Princess Anne, the Baroness de Rothschild, the ballet master Roland Petit and his wife, the classical dancer Zizi Jeanmaire, the model Geneviève Fath (who had been Gabrielle Chanel's secretary) and the

Nouvelle Vague

writer

Françoise Sagan, an audience as select as it was attentive to the solo debut of the then called “little prince of fashion.”

And the first model came out.

“The collection is summarized in the first piece presented: a navy blue jacket combined with white pants, whose simplicity and spirit are reminiscent of Chanel,” they explain from the Yves Saint Laurent Museum.

Indeed, the sailor coat – called “pea coat” – was the first piece that the master presented under his own name.

Audrey Marnay in the Saint LaurentWWD peacoat (Penske Media via Getty Images)

Inspired by men's fashion, the peacoat was a thick wool coat worn by sailors to protect themselves from the cold.

The simple shape of this practical garment sculpted the silhouette and, as the museum points out, the fact that it was not tight and covered the hips made it ideal for women who still did not dare to wear pants, which accentuated the shape. feminine.

This outfit (so iconic that in the spring 2022 collection the brand recovered it and took it to the catwalk with model Audray Marnay) paved the way for the characteristic style of Yves Saint Laurent, which on numerous occasions borrowed some garments from men's fashion to make women feel comfortable and confident.

Sixty-two years later, Etro, Bottega Veneta, Ferragamo, Gucci, Max Mara, Tom Ford, Emporio Armani and Prada have included among their proposals new versions of this sailor coat, more or less long, with striking or more discreet gold buttons, more fitted or looser, but completely recognizable, which not only confirms it as a timeless classic but also as a piece of the future: all of them appear in the collections for autumn / winter 2024 - 2025.

Former French Vogue fashion director Emmanuele AltChristian Vierig (Getty Images)

From the sea and for war

The pea coat (called

caban

in France) is one of those many garments that were born for work and in war (the list continues with the trench coat, jeans, military boots or the "blazer"), and that has gone through the time permeating different subcultures, generations and connotations.

The merit of inventing it is attributed to the merchant and seafaring people par excellence, the Dutch, back in the 19th century, and it is believed that the name of the pea coat comes from the word “pijjakker”: “pij” is a robust fabric of blue wool and “jakker” is a short coat.

If the Dutch created it, the British integrated it as a naval uniform and that is how it made the leap to the United States. The common denominator was the need for a durable outer garment that could withstand heavy rain, wind and cold temperatures. which are normally experienced at sea and this is how the sailor coat became the most popular naval outer garment due to its durability and resistance.

The coat, whose silhouette has undergone some changes throughout its history but remains completely recognizable, was shortened to give greater freedom of movement to the legs of the sailors who wore it for the first time, men known as "reefers." in charge of unfurling sails and climbing the rigging of a ship's mast.

The front was crossed with eight or ten buttons (often stamped with the silhouette of an anchor) and was designed to be easily fastened.

It had a type of collar called “ulster”, which protected the chest and neck from wind, salt and water, and the vertical side pockets allowed for comfortable hand warming.

The peacoat made its way ashore after World War II, when surplus military clothing was plentiful, and slowly made its way to becoming a fashion piece.

In the 1950s, the beatniks adopted the pea coat as a uniform and the hippie counterculture looked favorably on it in the 1960s, precisely at the same time that Saint Laurent gave it its big break by presenting it in Paris as the first item of clothing in its first runway show. their own brand, and open it to the female public.

In the 70s, the sailor jacket gained fame and style, with references such as Robert Redford in the film Three Days of the Condor and Ali McGraw in

Love Story

.

It took two more decades for the sailor jacket to acquire the definitive seal of a desirable garment and that was thanks to the British model Kate Moss, who around 2010 made it her uniform of skinny jeans and flat boots.

The peacoat consolidated its status as a basic among those who know fashion when the former director of what was then called Vogue Paris, Emmanuelle Alt, began to appear in the street style photographs of the Parisian fashion show week wearing one and today, when fashion is committed In recovering all the garments that marked the beginning of the millennium, he once again writes a new chapter of his resistant life.

Kate Moss at the latest Bottega Veneta fashion showDaniele Venturelli (WireImage)