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Born in 1936, Yves Saint Laurent grew up in Oran,
Algeria. At 17, he left for Paris where he showed his drawings to
Michel de Brunhoff, director of Vogue, who published several of them
immediately. Following a stint at fashion school, Saint Laurent was
introduced to Christian Dior by de Brunhoff and he went on to work for
Dior until his death in 1957.
After taking over as art
director for Dior, Saint Laurent launched his first collection for the
company, the Ligne Trapéze, that year. It was a resounding success the
world over and won him a Neiman Marcus Oscar. In 1960, Saint Laurent
created his revolutionary "Beat Look" collection which used couture
techniques to refine streetstyle. However, his dramatic designs were
too much for the house of Dior and a year later they lifted bars on his
national service.
When he returned from service in 1962, Saint
Laurent set up his own fashion house with Pierre Bergé and continued to
rock the establishment. In 1966, he introduced le smoking, his
legendary smoking suit, which prompted the consequent androgynous
revolution. He is now credited with a range of other innovations
including the reefer jacket (1962), the sheer blouse (1966), and the
jumpsuit (1968), as well as ready-to-wear culture as a whole.
In
October 1998, Yves Saint Laurent showed his last ready-to-wear
collection for the Rive Gauche label he had founded more than 30 years
before. But, according to a sorrowful spokeswoman, the 61-year old
designer was simply too overwrought to take his final bow. US designer
Alber Elbaz was hand-picked to succeed him, but found that his career
there was swiftly terminated after the Italian fashion Gucci bought
full control of the business at the end of 1999 and handed the reins to
powerhouse designer Tom Ford. Yves Saint Laurent retained control of
the haute couture business and continues to show in Paris each season.
These days, the reach of the Saint Laurent empire he founded and sold
on is vast: the company produces menswear, furs, jewellery, perfumes
and a range of accessories, all of which are distributed worldwide.
During
his career, Saint Laurent was arguably the industry's greatest
designer. Over the years, he received countless accolades: in 1985, he
was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour by President François
Mitterand; in 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Officer of the
Legion of Honour, finally becoming a Commandeur six years later. His
status as a national icon was also cemented when, at the final of the
1998 World Cup, near Paris, 300 models presented a retrospective of YSL
creations, to celebrate the designer's forty years in fashion, in front
of 80,000 football fans and more than 170 international sports
channels.
In January 2002, the 65-year-old designer announced
his retirement. Paying tribute to his mentors, including Christian
Dior, Balenciaga, Schiaparelli and Chanel, he revealed that his
decision was based on a disgust with an industry that had become ruled
more by commercial gain than art. "I have nothing in common with this
new world of fashion, which has been reduced to mere window-dressing,"
he said. "Elegance and beauty have been banished." The news came just
16 days before he presented his final haute couture collection. In a
fitting end to his 40-year career, the show constituted a thorough
retrospective of his work: over an hour and a half long, it featured
over 250 outfits, 40 of them new designs, and 100 models. A tearful
Yves Saint Laurent took his final bow as his long-time muse, Catherine
Deneuve, sang Ma Plus Belle Histoire d'Amour. |
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