It looks like goodbye at Saint Laurent, and I think it was the most elegant exit of the season. Ten years and two days after his 2016 debut, Anthony Vaccarello took what the signs suggested was his last bow at the house. He did no interviews.

Instead he sent black calla lilies with a note that said, "It's a very personal one for me, charged with emotion, so this time I'd rather not say too much and let you experience all its shades." The music as guests came in was Miles Davis's soundtrack to Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows, which is either a coincidence or a very dry joke. At the end Charlotte Gainsbourg, a longtime Vaccarello loyalist, performed a surprise song whose chorus repeated "You are so much, Yves Saint Laurent." I love a designer who says goodbye without saying it.

The collection was built in many shades of gold, then finished with a finale all in black, a reversal of Yves Saint Laurent's fall 1991 Rive Gauche collection, which ended all in gold. The founder once called gold "today's black," and he also said "an evening should glow; otherwise it's a bit absurd." This one glowed. The Eiffel Tower twinkled outside, three huge candlelit chandeliers threw shadows across a glossy black runway, and more than four in five looks were gold or metallic.

Sahariennes and trenches came in crackly metallic cotton and crushed toile, with mousseline scarves in absinthe, amber and cognac. There were cocktail dresses in what looked like metal thread lace, and little cropped jackets and trousers in gilt brocade. I think the trench in gold is the smartest idea here, because it takes the most practical coat there is and makes it an evening piece.

Here is the detail I keep coming back to. This might have been the only show in Paris without a single bag, and I counted none in the gallery. In a season when most houses use the runway to launch a handbag, that is a statement. The accessories were earrings and shoes, nothing else.

Vaccarello still believes in big earrings and high, high stilettos, including one style with S-shaped snakes for heels. A handful of looks had fur-trimmed cuffs, and a handful more carried an oversized bow, which is about as soft as he gets. There were five black floor-length gowns, and the finale was all black. I like how strict that is. Nothing on the runway was there to sell you a small leather good.

Vaccarello is as strong-willed as he is soft-spoken, and he has never bent to trends. Last year he said, "We made people believe that fashion is for everyone and that everyone can buy a piece of clothing or a bag from a big house," and added that he hoped luxury would go back to an old-school way.

You can disagree with that, and plenty of people do, but this show is the clearest version of his argument. If I were taking one thing from it, it would be the idea of gold as a neutral. A metallic trench, a brocade jacket or a gold earring worn with plain black is how this collection translates to real life. It is a beautiful way to leave, and it makes me curious about who comes next.