Three months after his debut women’s collection for Yves Saint Laurent was damned by faint praise, Ford returned to the same Paris venue and unveiled a powerful collection that earned him a standing ovation for his first performance as YSL men’s designer.

Opening with the sexiest suits seen in Paris this season and ending with some brilliant, new takes on the tuxedo, Ford got it just about dead right in the collection he again showed in an austere black box in Paris’s Rodin Museum.

Craftily, Ford’s models were all Saint Laurent look-alikes with tortoise shells and wavy hair. This was not the 64-year-old who limped out of his couture show last week, though. It was the lithe, sexually-charged Saint Laurent of the ‘60s.

"It is the time today to be chic. Just pure chic," Ford told FWD after the intense applause had died down. "It’s not about gimmicks. It’s not about tricks. It’s just about being chic."

First came highly-wearable pinstripe gray cashmere suits worn with gray T-shirts. Cut wide in the shoulders, tapered at the waist and worn with drainpipe trousers, the suits were deadly sexy.

Ford’s take on the military maneuvers that have dominated Europe’s men’s collections was also brilliantly modern. Big, bold leather coats followed sophisticated, white leather trenches. For chilly climes, Ford suggested coats worn over wolf inner linings or snug sporty peacoats.

Like in his women’s debut collection, Ford stuck to a rigorous black-and-white color palette, except for a little coffee and one blast of red with a velvet jacket.

The show also underlined the other ace in Ford’s hand – marketing savvy. On the morning of the show, YSL took out double-page spreads in the International Herald Tribune and Le Monde featuring a seductively poetic model in a black satin suit, open- necked shirt and white string neckerchief.

Few things highlighted the new era at Rive Gauche more than the footwear. Ford showed several sure-fire commercial hits, including patent leather pumps with fabric bands, elongated wing tips and pointy Chelsea boots.

Does anyone remember the old Rive Gauche footwear business? Kind of hard to as there really wasn’t any. The previous catwalk collections designed by Ford’s predecessor Hedi Slimane had to use generic shoes supplied by Paraboot.

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche by Tom Ford

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche by Tom Ford

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche by Tom Ford

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche by Tom Ford