PARIS, Mar 14, 2001/ --- Tom Ford dove deep into the Yves Saint Laurent archives and came up with a soulful Fall/Winter 2001 women's wear collection that proved the young American sportswear designer can indeed follow in the ready-to-wear footsteps of the master French couturier.

For the collection, presented under a tent in the Rodin Museum, Ford took a few Saint Laurent classics as a launching point and spun them into something completely different from what anyone else has shown on the runways this season.

The idea of using old Saint Laurent standbys as the focal point is predictable and expected. But unlike Ford's predecessor Alber Elbaz, or even Ford himself for his Rive Gauche debut last fall, Ford did not turn to iconic (and now cliché) looks, like the Saharian, the Little Lord Fauntleroy knickers or the Pop Art dresses.

Instead, he looked to the period of the late '60s, when Saint Laurent went Bohemian and ethnic, creating 19th-century granny-style suits and heavy coats embroidered with thread-like North African djellabas.

Ford did granny coats in mod plush suede, and heavy thread-embroidered coats, but the embroidery was more like brocade streamers tumbling down the back, tied with pretty velvet sashes.

His French Cavalry coats were cinched with hip wide leather belts.

From there Ford ran with it, turning out clothes that made you stop, look and think.

There were sexy mummy-like shirts made of ribbon wrapped around the torso unevenly, stopping brazenly just below the shoulder, paired with cool low-slung jean-style skirts in velvet and wool.

There were liquid satin dresses in burgundy and rose with snug elastic quilted waists and wrists.

There were long unevenly-ruched skirts with off-the-shoulder peasant shirts.

Billowing silk blouses featured shoulders falling sensually down the arm, worn over skinny men's style pants.

To make the collection look even more naughty and inviting, Ford tied velvet scarves around his models' necks like sashes and wrapped their feet in thick-soled sandals, the straps winding up around the ankles like jean belts.

The effect was an extraordinary meeting of '20s brothels with '60s opium dens for a je-ne-sais-quoi of 2001 haute debauchery.

It was the eveningwear, however, that really showed Ford has a grasp on Saint Laurent and not the other way around: his chiffon gowns, like Saint Laurent's, smothered the body like a second skin, plunging dangerously in front and in back.

They were astonishingly beautiful yet they didn't outshine the women, and that's a delicate balance only a few designers can achieve.

Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford

Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford

Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford

Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford