Long Nguyen is the co-founder and style director of Flaunt.

PARIS–Looking at the set for Yohji Yamamoto’s fall 2012 show, a rectangle of red steel scaffolding in the courtyard of the Lycée Carnot, you might have expected another complexly constructed collection–as the designer is wont to do.

This was not the case. The three red jersey dresses that opened the show composed a different vocabulary for Yamamoto. These looks were more fitted to the body. Combined with an asymmetrical silhouette, it’s a new design element. A black jersey dress with a leg-revealing split up the front was yet another example of Yamamoto’s shift towards sexier looks, which began about a year ago. It looked like an Angelina Jolie Oscar moment to me.

The familiar Yamamoto shapes were there, too: wool cape/military trenches, black gabardine jackets and short pants comprised the designer’s classic, oversized, asexual silhouette. A stand out look was the navy wool hooded trench/cape with big buttoned lapels worn over a sexy little red corset dress.

The beauty of this show was how comfortable Mr. Yamamoto was with working around his signature cuts–the big, often shape-less coats, the gabardine jackets and cropped pants and the asymmetrical dresses. He let them flow freely instead of over-draping and over-working.

Photos: Imaxtree