biography of yves saint laurent

Yves Saint Laurent

(1936-2008)

Who Was Yves Saint Laurent?

Early years.

Yves Henri Donat Matthieu Saint Laurent was born on August 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, to Charles and Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. He grew up in a villa by the Mediterranean with his two younger sisters, Michelle and Brigitte. While his family was relatively well off — his father was a lawyer and insurance broker who owned a chain of cinemas — childhood for the future fashion icon was not easy. Saint Laurent was not popular in school, and was often bullied by schoolmates for appearing to be homosexual. As a consequence, Saint Laurent was a nervous child, and sick nearly every day.

He found solace, however, in the world of fashion. He liked to create intricate paper dolls, and by his early teen years he was designing dresses for his mother and sisters. At the age of 17, a whole new world opened up to Saint Laurent when his mother took him to Paris for a meeting she'd arranged with Michael de Brunhoff, the editor of French Vogue .

A year later, Saint Laurent, who had impressed de Brunhoff with his drawings, moved to Paris and enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, where his designs quickly gained notice. De Brunhoff also introduced Saint Laurent to designer Christian Dior, a giant in the fashion world. "Dior fascinated me," Saint Laurent later recalled. "I couldn't speak in front of him. He taught me the basis of my art. Whatever was to happen next, I never forgot the years I spent at his side." Under Dior's tutelage, Saint Laurent's style continued to mature and gain still more notice.

Going His Own Way

In 1960 Saint Laurent was called back to his home country of Algeria to fight for its independence. He managed to secure an exemption based on health grounds, but when he returned to Paris, Saint Laurent found that his job with Dior had disappeared. The news, at first, was traumatic for the young, fragile designer. Then it became ugly, with Saint Laurent successfully suing his former mentor for breach of contract, and collecting £48,000.

The money and the freedom soon presented Saint Laurent with a unique opportunity. In cooperation with his partner and lover, Pierre Berge, the designer resolved to open his own fashion house. With the rise of pop culture and a general yearning for original, fresh designs, Saint Laurent's timing couldn't have been better.

Over the next two decades, Saint Laurent's designs sat atop the fashion world. Models and actresses gushed over his creations. He outfitted women in blazers and smoking jackets, and introduced attire like the pea coat to the runway. His signature pieces also included the sheer blouse and the jumpsuit.

Later Years and Death

By the 1980s, Saint Laurent was a true icon. He became the first designer to have a retrospective on his work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Under the direction of Berge, who continued to manage Saint Laurent's firm even though the two had broken up in 1986, the fashion house flourished as a money making venture.

But Saint Laurent struggled. He became reclusive, and fought addictions to alcohol and cocaine. Some in the fashion world complained that the designer's work had grown stale.

In the early 1990s, Saint Laurent found firmer footing. His designs were rediscovered by a fashion elite that had grown tired of the grunge movement that dominated the runways. Saint Laurent, too, seemed to have conquered his demons. By the end of the decade, with Saint Laurent slowing down his work pace, he and Berge had sold the company they'd started, netting the two men a fortune.

In January 2002, Saint Laurent participated in his final show and then retired for good in Marrakech. Five years later, Saint Laurent's imprint and importance on French culture was cemented when he was appointed Grand Officer of the Legion d'honnerur by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Yves Saint Laurent passed away in Paris on June 1, 2008 after a brief illness.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Yves Saint Laurent
• Birth Year: 1936
• Birth date: August 1, 1936
• Birth City: Oran
• Birth Country: Algeria
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Yves Saint Laurent was best known as an influential European fashion designer who impacted fashion in the 1960s to the present day.
• Astrological Sign: Leo
• Nacionalities
• Algerian (Algeria)
• Death Year: 2008
• Death date: June 1, 2008
• Death City: Paris
• Death Country: France

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• Article Title: Yves Saint Laurent Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
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• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: August 18, 2020
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• Fashion dies, but style remains.

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Yves Saint Laurent

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Yves Saint Laurent (born August 1, 1936, Oran , Algeria—died June 1, 2008, Paris , France) was a French fashion designer noted for his popularization of women’s trousers for all occasions.

After completing his secondary education in Oran, Algeria , Saint Laurent left for Paris to pursue a career in designing theatrical costumes and women’s fashions. He attended fashion school for a short time and won first prize in an international design contest. When a Vogue magazine executive showed Christian Dior some of Saint Laurent’s sketches, he was hired immediately as Dior’s assistant. He was 17 years old at the time.

As Dior’s protégé, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior after Dior’s sudden death in 1957. Following the “little-girl” look and the A-line silhouette, he introduced more sophisticated, longer skirts and, in 1959, drastically shortened skirts. In 1960 he introduced the chic beatnik look of turtlenecks and black leather jackets edged with fur.

After induction into the French army in 1960, Saint Laurent suffered a nervous collapse and was replaced at the House of Dior by designer Marc Bohan. In 1962 Saint Laurent opened his own fashion house and quickly emerged as one of the most influential designers in Paris. He popularized trousers for women for both city and country wear. Metallic and transparent fabrics were prominent in his late 1960s collections; in the ’70s, inspired by traditional Russian costume , he introduced the haute peasant look. During that time his enterprises expanded to include ready-to-wear licenses, accessories, household linens, fragrances (notably Y [1964], Rive Gauche [1971], and Opium [1977]), and men’s clothes in addition to his couture business.

In 1983 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City held a retrospective of Saint Laurent’s designs. He sold the ready-to-wear business to Gucci for some $1 billion in 1999 and shut down the couture house when he retired in 2002. In 2007 Saint Laurent was made a grand officer of the Legion of Honour . Two years later the art collection he had assembled with his partner, Pierre Bergé, was auctioned in Paris for more than $260 million, a record price for a private art collection. In 2017 a museum dedicated to his work opened in his former haute couture house in Paris and another in a building by architecture firm Studio KO of patterned terra-cotta in Marrakech, Morocco.

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Yves Saint Laurent

By Jo Craven

Yves Saint Laurent's legacy as a king of fashion designers, who created a masterpiece of a brand, keeps growing.

• Yves Saint Laurent was born in 1936 and grew up in Oran, Algeria
• At 17, he left for Paris where he showed his drawings to Michel

de Brunhoff - director of French Vogue - who published

several of them immediately

• Following a stint at fashion school, Yves Saint Laurent was introduced to Christian Dior where he worked until Dior's death in 1957
• After taking over as art director for Dior, Yves Saint Laurent launched his first collection for the company, the Ligne Trapéze, that year. It was a resounding success and won him a Neiman Marcus Oscar
• In 1962, after completing National Service, Yves Saint Laurent set up his own fashion house with Pierre Bergé
• In 1966, he introduced le smoking - his legendary smoking suit. His other inventions include the reefer jacket (1962), the sheer blouse (1966), and the jumpsuit (1968)
• 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. He carried on his haute couture until 2002
• After a brief stint with Alber Elbaz as designer, in 1999 Tom Ford arrived to take control at the house. The brand entered the stratosphere where it remains today, covering perfume and menswear as well as womenswear.
• At his last show, in 2002, a tearful Yves Saint Laurent took

his final bow as his long-time muse, Catherine Deneuve, sang *Ma

Plus Belle Histoire d'Amour*. Stefano Pilati, who replaced Tom

Ford in 2005, continues Yves Saint Laurent's message that "dressing

is a way of life".

• Yves Saint Laurent died after a long period of ill health at his home in Paris on June 1, 2008. He was 71.

By Christian Allaire

By Kerry McDermott

By Naomi Pike

By LAURE GUILBAULT

By Ariel Okin

Interactive Biographies

These biographies chart the trajectories of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, from the pair’s personal lives and convictions to Saint Laurent’s signature designs and the history of the haute couture house. Explore the topics of your choice and take a look at the major events in their unusual destinies.

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Birth and Early Years on the Île d’Oléron

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Movie Interviews

The turbulent love story behind yves saint laurent's revolutionary rise.

Susan Stamberg

Yves Saint Laurent works with a model at his Paris fashion house in 1965. A new film follows the designer's rise in the fashion world. Reg Lancaster/Getty Images hide caption

Yves Saint Laurent works with a model at his Paris fashion house in 1965. A new film follows the designer's rise in the fashion world.

In 2009, Forbes rated designer Yves Saint Laurent the "Top-Earning Dead Celebrity" of the year. (Surely a bittersweet distinction.) Now, Saint Laurent's success — and how it was shaped and fed by his lover and manager Pierre Berge — is the subject of the new film Yves Saint Laurent . In it, their relationship is both interactive and supportive. "Fashion is not a major art," Saint Laurent says in the film, to which Berge replies, "The way you do it, you have to be an artist."

A King Of Fashion

Costume designer Patricia Field, who put the ladies of Sex and the City into their Manolo Blahnik shoes, makes Saint Laurent sound like a chic Che Guevara: "I think he was one of the revolutionaries," she says.

"Le Smoking" — seen here in Saint Laurent's 1967 Spring-Summer collection — became the designer's signature piece for women. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

"Le Smoking" — seen here in Saint Laurent's 1967 Spring-Summer collection — became the designer's signature piece for women.

According to Field, Saint Laurent looped the pulse of his times into the fashions he designed. "Fashion is an ingredient in culture and art," she says. "And at his time, he was the king of it."

In 1966, Saint Laurent created "Le Smoking," a tuxedo jacket coupled with slim slacks — a pants suit for women. It was revolutionary, simple and elegant. In an archival interview , the designer described his approach: "I don't like [to] make a woman ... an abstract concept of the fashion," he said. "I don't like [to] say, 'You must wear that.' ... I am not a dictator."

Still, what Saint Laurent sent down the runway each season made the fashion world sit up and take notice. The movie re-creates a number of his fashion shows using gorgeous, super-skinny models draped, tied and zipped into actual Saint Laurent originals. The clothes were sprung from cold storage on loan, and handled with extreme care and curator's gloves for the shoots.

At His Lowest, 'He Always Managed To Create New Things'

"You were happy only twice a year" Berge says to Saint Laurent in the film, "spring and fall." That's when Saint Laurent was creating and showing his new collections. Otherwise, as the film makes clear, Yves Saint Laurent — a diagnosed manic-depressive — was very, very fragile.

"He was definitely very sick," says Jalil Lespert, the film's director. "Yves was not just like a diva or ... like a star, you know. He had this incredible struggle of his life against illness."

He was vulnerable, excitable and had major nervous breakdowns.

Pierre Niney plays Saint Laurent in the film. The 26-year-old actor says, "That's the most fascinating thing about that character, the fact that in the worst moment of desperation and unhappiness and pain, he always managed to create new things — masterpieces, actually."

To Niney and Lespert, Yves Saint Laurent's efforts are heroic and, as with many tormented artists, therapeutic.

"He was such a sensitive human being that it was painful to live, for him, everyday life," Niney says. "And the only getaway he found — and he found it really young, at maybe 15 or 16 — was to draw and to create."

The film depicts the relationship between Pierre Berge (Guillaume Gallienne, left) and Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Niney) as both interactive and supportive. Thibault Grabherr/The Weinstein Company hide caption

The film depicts the relationship between Pierre Berge (Guillaume Gallienne, left) and Yves Saint Laurent (Pierre Niney) as both interactive and supportive.

'He Needed Pierre Berge,' And Berge 'Needed To Be Needed'

When Saint Laurent met and fell in love with Berge in the late '50s, they quite deliberately defined the roles they would play for the next 40 years. Saint Laurent was the artist; Berge was the ultimate manager-fixer who smoothed the way and kept the operation moving.

"Yves Saint Laurent couldn't deal with daily things, daily problems," Niney says. "He was really unable and handicapped, almost, with that. So he needed Pierre Berge, the businessman, dealing with money. And Pierre Berge, he needed to be needed."

Jalil Lespert agrees: "Pierre [Berge] is a mix of someone who [needs] to control — he's a kind of control freak — and also is very generous. He [needs] to help the one that he [loves]. He will do everything for him."

Including either staying out of the way or, conversely, getting out in front, when it was appropriate. In the movie, it's Berge who steps out of the limos first.

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"He was always in front because it was Yves who was behind him in the car, like a prince or a king," Lespert says. "The king was absolutely the creator, and the creator was Yves."

The film director says this hierarchy was always apparent. Take, for instance, the home the men shared in Morocco: "The big bedroom in front of the garden — beautiful — it was the bedroom of Yves. And Pierre's bedroom was the small one behind it. I mean, the genius was Yves. All the ideas, all the creation — it was Yves."

The tale of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge is a tumultuous, passionate, complex, decadent, drug-laced love story. They separated as lovers in 1976, but they remained friends and business partners. Saint Laurent died in 2008, but Berge is still keeper of the flame. He was even an adviser on the film.

The movie has gotten mixed reviews so far — too much fashion, too much froufrou — but the fabrics are visual feasts. And you can enjoy them in your jeans, with popcorn.

Yves Saint Laurent Biography

Birthday: August 1 , 1936 ( Leo )

Born In: Oran, Algeria

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Also Known As: Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent

Died At Age: 71

father: Charles Mathieu-Saint-Laurent

mother: Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent

siblings: Brigitte Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, Michelle Mathieu-Saint-Laurent

Born Country: Algeria

Quotes By Yves Saint Laurent Fashion Designers

Died on: June 1 , 2008

place of death: Paris, France

Cause of Death: Brain Cancer

Notable Alumni: Chambre Syndicale De La Haute Couture

Founder/Co-Founder: Yves Saint Laurent Couture House, House of Yves Saint Laurent, Yves Saint Laurent perfumes and colognes, Vouguepedia

education: Chambre Syndicale De La Haute Couture

awards: 2007 - Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur

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Yves Saint Laurent, Giant of Couture, Dies at 71

By Anne-Marie Schiro

• June 2, 2008

Yves Saint Laurent, who exploded on the fashion scene in 1958 as the boy-wonder successor to Christian Dior and endured as one of the best-known and most influential couturiers of the second half of the 20th century, died on Sunday at his apartment in Paris. He was 71.

His death was confirmed by Dominique Deroche, a spokeswoman for the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.

During a career that ran from 1957 to 2002 he was largely responsible for changing the way modern women dress, putting them into pants both day and night, into peacoats and safari jackets, into “le smoking” (as the French call a man’s tuxedo jacket), and into leopard prints, trench coats and, for a time in the 1970s, peasant-inspired clothing in rich fabrics.

Mr. Saint Laurent often sought inspiration on the streets, bringing the Parisian beatnik style to couture runways and adapting the sailors’ peacoats he found in Army-Navy stores in New York into jackets that found their way into fashionable women’s wardrobes around the world. His glamorous evening clothes were often adorned with appliqués and beadwork inspired by artists like Picasso, Miró and Matisse. Above all, he was a master colorist, able to mix green, blue, rose and yellow in one outfit to achieve an effect that was artistic and never garish.

Among the women of style who wore his clothes were Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso, Nan Kempner, Lauren Bacall, Marella Agnelli and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.

Mr. Saint Laurent achieved instant fame in 1958 at the age of 21 when he showed his Trapeze collection, his first for Christian Dior following the master’s death. But unlike many overnight sensations, Mr. Saint Laurent managed to remain at the top of his profession as fashion changed from an emphasis on formal, custom-made haute couture to casual sportswear.

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A Timeline of Yves Saint Laurent’s Storied Fashion Career

By Calin Van Paris

Yves Saint Laurent was born on this day in 1936 in Oran, Algeria. Since his death in 2008, his self-named couture house has experienced creative transformations dreamed up by Stefano Pilati (slight upheaval, closed stores), Hedi Slimane (revamped vision, shortened moniker), and—as of next month—Anthony Vaccarello of Versus Versace.

Throughout his life in fashion, Saint Laurent was a constant proponent of all things forward-thinking, introducing the first tuxedos for women, championing diversity in model casting, and even starring in his own campaigns—all feats that were revolutionary in his time. Here are five noteworthy moments from the storied career of Yves Saint Laurent.

1953–1955: Moves to Paris

After winning a prize in International Wool Secretariat design competition, Saint Laurent moved to Paris to pursue an education in fashion. He soon met Michel de Brunhoff, editor of French Vogue , who—after noticing similarities in aesthetic—introduced the young designer to Christian Dior.

Yves Saint-Laurent sketching fashion designs on a chalkboard in the atelier of the House of Christian Dior.

1957: Becomes head designer at Christian Dior

Saint Laurent began working at Christian Dior as an intern of sorts, eventually providing sketches for the collections and ultimately being announced as Dior’s eventual successor. This came to pass sooner than expected, and for his first collection at the helm of the brand—at just 21-years-old—Saint Laurent showed a more delicate take on Dior’s "New Look," with pieces like the trapeze dress taking center stage.

Saint-Laurent working with a fashion model at his own fashion house in Paris.

1961: Creates his own couture house with partner Pierre Bergé

In 1960, he was drafted into the French Army, an event that led to both a nervous breakdown and his untimely dismissal from Dior. Once he recovered, Saint Laurent and Bergé set out to create their own house. The first collection debuted in 1962, which introduced the peacoat—and his slightly androgynous taste—as runway ready staples.

A model wearing a dinner jacket, blouse, and black silk bow-tie for Yves Saint Laurent's spring 1967 haute couture collection.

By Aliza Kelly

By Sophie Saint Thomas

By Deanna Pai

1966: Introduces Le Smoking, the first tuxedos for women

Complete with a cummerbund, Saint Laurent's "Le Smoking" was our first introduction to tuxedo styles for women, a trend which offered the backdrop of Hedi Slimane’s reimagined aesthetic during his time as creative director.

A model wearing a a double-breasted gabardine suit for Yves Saint Laurent's 1971 spring haute couture collection.

1971: "Libération" collection

YSL drew inspiration from the 1940s with his "Libération" collection, which was regarded as scandalous in Paris after its showing. The designer combined a wartime feel with a seemingly random and over-the-top selection of silhouettes, colors, and accessories, jarring critics of high fashion while imbuing the culture with a new, bolder sensibility.

Iman wearing a bandeau top and skirt by Yves Saint Laurent.

1985: "African Queen" collection

After drawing inspiration from Africa for his 1967 collection, Saint Laurent debuted his “African Queen” collection, dedicating the show to longtime muse Iman. The designer was an early advocate of diversity on the runway, casting women like Katoucha Niane and Naomi Campbell, who credits Saint Laurent for her first French Vogue cover, in his shows.

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Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008)

• Colin McDowell

PARIS, France — Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was the founding figure for modernity in fashion. When he retired in 2002, he could look back over his years as a designer and, with perfect justification, claim not only that every major change in women’s dress had originated with him, but also that many current female attitudes were, in part, the result of his uncompromisingly bold fashion approaches, not least to self and sexuality.

Born in Oran, Algeria in 1936 into a well off family, Saint Laurent's gentleness, timidity, and the fact that he was a homosexual in a macho culture made him a prey to bullying and, inevitably, made him turn in on himself. Sad for him of course, but invaluable for his future. He created his own world with a fashion house complete in every detail and all made out of cut paper. His imaginary fashion house, Yves Mathieu Saint Laurent haute couture was based in Place Vendome. His models were cut out of his mother's fashion magazines and he dressed them with his own designs for clothes and accessories. The models were called Bettina Graziani and Suzy Parker, their hair was by Carita and makeup was Elizabeth Arden. The suppliers of fabric , furs, shoes and jewellery were all world-class manufacturers. The clients were played by his two sisters. He was totally obsessive.

In his late teens he did waver in his dream of being a couturier, wondering whether or not he should be a costume designer instead. Fashion won out, but throughout his life as a couturier he also designed costumes for theatre, film and ballet, working with people of the calibre of the film directors Bunuel and Truffaut; actresses Jeanne Moreau and Catherine Deneuve and the ballet dancers Roland Petit and Rene Jeanmarie. There can be no question that Saint Laurent had a broader base than any of his contemporaries working in high fashion in what, with justification, can be called the YSL years.

Those years began in 1955 when, advised by Michel de Brunhoff, the editor-in-chief of French Vogue, Christian Dior took him on as his assistant at his eponymous fashion house, the most famous in the world at that point. But Saint Laurent had already proved his ability by winning three of the International Wool Secretariat Prize categories the previous year, with Karl Lagerfeld winning the fourth. At Dior he made his mark quickly: his evening dress worn by Dovima while standing between two elephants, photographed by Richard Avedon, commanded attention. So, when Dior died suddenly in 1957, it came as no surprise to Paris when Saint Laurent took over the house. His first collection was a great success, as it was entirely in the spirit of the Dior aesthetic. But then things began to go wrong. Either through youthful arrogance or over-enthusiasm, subsequent collections were pitched far too young for the average Dior customer.

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Boardroom concerns and seriously diminishing sales figures resulted in a very public sacking of the man who, such a short time before, had been publicly hailed as the saviour of French couture.

The news went around the globe in arguably the first time that a fashion designer had commanded the front pages of the world's press, including those who considered that women's fashion and all its doings should be confined to the women's pages. The intense media interest made him world famous. He was 21. But the exposure contributed to a nervous breakdown. His mental state was not helped by the fact he had been drafted into the French army, the emotional equivalent of putting a fawn into an enclosure with a hyena. Medicines and treatments for nervous illness were in their infancy and almost certainly did more harm than good. He was discharged.

Pierre Bergé, an unlikely fairy godmother in many respects, but a man with a very good brain and a determination that could not be budged, was already Yves’ lover — a relationship that lasted until the designer’s death. He took over the business side and set out to re-establish his lover's name. An entrepreneur, he had made his previous lover, the artist Bernard Buffet, a major figure in Parisian art circles and he knew he could do the same for Yves. He and Saint Laurent had such strong conviction, they were able to convince Dior colleagues, including Claude Licard, who became head of the design studio, Gabrielle Buchaert, who was press officer and the mannequin, Victoire, to join them. The YSL logo was designed by Cassandre, the world's greatest graphic designer of the time, and the enterprise was underwritten by J. Mack Robinson, an American entrepreneur, to the tune of $7,000. The miraculous birth had taken place, despite the doubts of many intelligent observers in Paris and further afield who worried about the longevity of the relationship of the two men and the mental health of Saint Laurent.

Yves Saint Laurent, now allowed to use his imagination and deeply felt opinions on how modern women should dress, knew precisely what path he intended to follow. He wanted to continue the elegance that he had learned with Dior and which had won him the coveted Neiman Marcus prize for Trapeze, his first collection at the helm after Dior's demise. But he was streetwise enough to know that beautiful as such elegance was — especially when photographed by a top photographer – it had little beyond aesthetic appeal for the women for whom he was determined to open up the prospect of a modern elegance which was not only beautiful but also wearable.

It is salutary, before looking at Yves’ years of success, to examine what went wrong at Dior. Firstly, of course, Saint Laurent was put in charge of a company that totally reflected Dior's personal approach to fashion which, 10 years after the New Look, appeared to many, if not tired, then certainly academic as far as the high street was concerned. Yves knew this and, after Trapeze, he decided to bring the age level down dramatically. Although customers had raved over the Trapeze collection, their reaction to the next two collections, “Arc” and “Longline,” was more muted. But it was his Beat Look that destroyed their trust. Although Saint-Germain adored it, few who hung out there could afford anything that came down the runway — the mink-lined black crocodile bikers jacket, which looked fabulous in photographs, probably cost more than most of their annual salaries — and those who could afford it felt that street styles were simply not couture — and certainly not wearable by anyone over 25. Such clothes made no money for the company. And it must be said that, unlike today, when avant-garde couture is created with virtually no interest in pleasing anyone but the press, couture in the early sixties was still made to be sold and worn by customers.

However, Yves and Berge knew that if their new company was to survive there was a need to sell something to keep its supporters happy and also excite the press. In one amazing moment of the foresight that punctuated much of Saint Laurent's working life, he turned his back on the Dior days. Putting on his cultural hat and wishing to do something accessible enough for the high street, he made a series of woollen shifts inspired by the twenties Dutch artist, Piet Mondrian. Simple, clean and dramatic they bought fashion design in line with fine art, product design and all the aspects of early 20th century attitudes, in that they were totally functional and, unfortunately, easily and cheaply copied. But for publicity they were perfect. They caused a sensation and put him in pole position across the globe at the head of the few designers in Paris who understood the new informality of the modern woman's life.

On a roll, he plundered pop culture, primitive societies and the work of the great artists in a series of groundbreaking concepts: Pop Art, Africa, Safari, Morocco, Ballets Russes, Chinoiserie, Matisse, Braque, Picasso, tuxedos, and Le Smoking. His breadth of imagination and his boldness of interpretation were staggering. One fashion commentator hailed his designs as milestones of fashion history but, magnificent and unique as his couture collections were, his ready-to-wear continued to reflect the needs of the street and the relaxed approaches to individuality, sexual freedom and the growth in female power and self-esteem. If, as has been claimed, Chanel is credited with "inventing the 20th century" for women, Yves can be claimed to have invented the force of individuality, regardless of sex or colour. The trouser suit, the smoking, and the Safari jacket are staples of the fashion lexicon of women everywhere. Saint Laurent once made his own list of the things he liked most out of all the things he had done for women, pointing out that so many of them were adapted from the masculine wardrobe, including the blazer, the trench, shorts, safari jackets and trousers.

And, of course, there are the fragrances and the boldness of their conception and presentation, where Yves Saint Laurent once again was a trail blazer. In 1971 he posed nude for what has become a talismanic portrait by Jeanloup Sieff to publicise the first YSL for Men fragrance, only two years after his Rive Gauche men's clothing range was launched. But, of course, he didn't always walk on water. In the same year as the portrait, he created a scandal with his 40s collection. It was universally condemned as a serious failure of taste, showing a cruel indifference to the plight of people in Paris during the Nazi occupation, many of whom were still alive and remembered the privations such as eating rats in order to keep alive. But again, Yves’ luck came to the fore.

Although most of the commentators of the time were blind to it, the collection bought style to the original badly-made and pre-fabricated ‘40s original garments and the short imitation fur coat and turban in bright grass green has become a classic revived by other designers on a regular basis.

Pierre Bergé, said two telling things about his partner. The first is very well known as it is frequently resurrected: “Yves was born with a nervous breakdown!” It is an amusing, throwaway remark. But the second goes deeper. It describes Yves as “a man of exceptional intelligence, practising the trade of an imbecile,” and it raises the question: despite his immense and still-continuing influence on fashion, could he have been an even greater artist?

There have been good designers in the past. Many of them have been greatly important in the little niche they have created for themselves. There are many who, like Vionnet and Madame Grès, impacted the very idea of what cloth could be used to achieve. But none of them had the over-riding authority to set the highest standards for fashion over many years and to change not only how we dress, but also how we think of ourselves, whilst posing the challenge of excellence to mode designers.

Yves Saint Laurent was the Janus of fashion who looked back at what had gone and forward to what might be. His influence is with us still and his place in the pantheon of creativity is unlikely to change until fashion itself does.

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Yves saint laurent: when fashion meets art.

On the 40th anniversary of Yves Saint Laurent’s exhibition at The Met, we revisit the connection between fashion and art.

Aurola Wedman Alfaro

Dec 14, 2023

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Standing in front of Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic painting  Irises  (1890) at The Met, I am captivated by the calming qualities of the thick brushstrokes, the flowing lines, and the coolness of the faded violet hues. An interpretation of Van Gogh’s irises then comes to mind, one where the petals are crafted with overlapping sequins and the leaves are demarcated with precise rows of cornflower blue bugle beads.

Yves Saint Laurent (French (born Algeria) Oran 1936–2008 Paris). Ensemble , spring/summer 1988. Silk, glass, metal, pearls. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2019 (2019.93a–c)

The piece, a jacket designed by Yves Saint Laurent for his spring–summer 1988 collection, was embellished with pearls, ribbon, and 250,000 sequins in twenty-two colors. It took the Maison Lesage more than six hundred hours to hand embroider the garment. The collection featured an equally detailed jacket inspired by Van Gogh’s sunflowers. It was paired with an emerald-green pencil skirt and modeled by Naomi Campbell under the warm glow of a chandelier on a runway surrounded by cameras.

Yves Saint Laurent spring-summer 1988 runway show. Photograph courtesy of Guy Marineau © Guy Marineau

Three decades later, a Saint Laurent iris jacket was sold at auction for 175,500 euros , while one of four sunflower jackets sold for 382,000 euros . Beyond raising staggering sums at auction, these jackets raise a question: Can Saint Laurent’s designs be considered art, too?

Boundaries often blur in the realm of art. We look at art through a subjective lens—is a piece beautiful or unappealing?—and consider its historical context—was it revolutionary at the time, even if it appears mundane now? What distinguishes art from craftsmanship? How do we determine what qualifies as art, and where does fashion fit on that spectrum? With these questions in mind, I embarked on an exploration of Saint Laurent’s career and history with The Met, while also visiting six exhibitions in Paris that showcased the designer’s work in conversation with art.

Throughout his career, Saint Laurent transported artworks from walls to bodies. This remarkable endeavor began in 1965 when Saint Laurent was reading Michel Seuphor’s book, Piet Mondrian, Life and Work . The purity of Mondrian's simple lines and color blocks resonated deeply with Saint Laurent, inspiring him to create a collection of twenty-six designs that mirrored the principles of Neoplasticism. With strategic darts and seams, he transformed abstract paintings into three-dimensional cocktail dresses that maintained geometric alignment on the body.

Yves Saint Laurent cocktail dress, homage to Piet Mondrian, autumn-winter 1965. Photograph: TopFoto 

An immediate success, the Mondrian collection paved the way for Saint Laurent’s art-inspired garments. Although designers Michèle Rosier, John Kloss, and milliner Sally Victor also employed color blocking on their dresses and hats , it was the Mondrian collection that brought global attention to the designer and the painter. 

Having lived in Paris for more than 20 years, Mondrian died as a relatively unknown artist in 1944 in New York. Apart from two posthumous gallery exhibitions and a single lithograph given to the Musée National d’Art Moderne [ 1 ], Mondrian’s work was unrepresented in France’s collections. Following the attention generated by Saint Laurent’s collection, Mondrian’s first retrospective took place at the Musée de L’Orangerie in 1969.

While Saint Laurent’s art-inspired garments played a significant role in his career, his legacy extends beyond these artistic homages. He is remembered for defying gender norms with his designs, particularly through trouser suits for women called “Le Smoking.” First presented in 1966, the tuxedo caused outrage. Many deemed it inappropriate for women and that belief led to many hotels and restaurants denying admission to women who chose to wear them. Famously, when New York socialite Nan Kempner was denied admission to La Côte Basque due to her Saint Laurent tuxedo, she removed the pants and defiantly entered the restaurant, wearing the blazer as a mini-dress.

Saint Laurent’s tuxedo known as Le Smokin, autumn-winter 1966. Photograph courtesy of Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris ©Yves Saint Laurent

In the realm of high fashion, Diana Vreeland, the influential former editor of Vogue and consultant for The Met’s Costume Institute , stood as a towering figure. Initially, Vreeland wasn’t convinced of Yves Saint Laurent’s superlative talent, despite sensing great freshness and style in his debut collection at the House of Dior in 1958. [ 2 ]

The young designer’s disregard for the status quo, evident in designs featuring exposed breasts and sheer fabrics, raised eyebrows. He seamlessly drew inspiration from street styles, blurring the lines between the everyday and haute couture. Vreeland remarked, “Yves Saint Laurent has a fifty-fifty deal with the street. Half of the time he is inspired by the street and half of the time the street gets its style from Yves Saint Laurent.” [ 3 ]

By 1983, however, Vreeland’s perception had shifted. Having witnessed the designer’s continuous innovation and impact on fashion, she joined the club of those who employed the term “genius” to describe Saint Laurent. For the first time in its forty-six-year history, The Costume Institute presented a solo exhibition dedicated to the work of a living designer, and Vreeland chose Saint Laurent for this prestigious honor. In the exhibition catalogue , she declared, “He is without any question the leader in all fashion today.”

Exhibition views of Yves Saint Laurent: Twenty-Five Years of Design held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from December 14, 1983 to September 2, 1984. 

The exhibition held at The Met showcased one hundred fifty garments set against colorful backdrops, taking viewers on a riveting journey through Saint Laurent’s prolific career. A collision of dreams and reality, the exhibition mixed the lavish with the practical, featuring dresses worn by movie stars alongside tuxedos worn by Saint Laurent’s younger clientele. Among the highlights were a row of Mondrian-inspired dresses, a theatrical cape of ostrich feathers, a beige safari-style jacket, a harlequin dress made of satin patchwork, alluring translucent pieces, and loose unassuming wool peacoats—each piece distinct yet unmistakably Saint Laurent. 

This duality in his design practice was often attributed to Saint Laurent’s understanding of the times as well as the desires and needs of his clientele. The French actress Catherine Deneuve, who wore his designs on- and offscreen, wrote in the exhibition catalogue  that Saint Laurent created for women leading double lives: “His day clothes help a woman confront the world of strangers. They permit her to go everywhere without drawing unwelcome attention [...] In the evening, when a woman chooses to be with those she is fond of, he makes her seductive.”

Yves Saint Laurent and his models at the presentation of Saint Laurent’s autumn-winter 1960 collection at the House of Dior. Photograph: TopFoto 

The connection between fashion and art has only strengthened over time as more museums around the world curate and present costume exhibitions. In 2022, Yves Saint Laurent Aux Musées , a simultaneous exhibition hosted at six leading Parisian cultural institutions, showcased Saint Laurent's talent, creative process, and lifelong fascination with art. At the Centre Pompidou , the Mondrian dresses were displayed alongside the artist’s iconic paintings. Similarly, at the Musée National Picasso-Paris , the Portrait de Nusch Éluard (1937) seemed to come alive when paired with Saint Laurent’s Homage to Pablo Picasso, a playful black-and-blue jacket.

Installation view of Yves Saint Laurent Aux Musées, 2022 at the Musée Picasso Paris. Photograph © Aurola Wedman Alfaro. Left: Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973). Portrait de Nusch Éluard , 1937. Oil on canvas, 92 x 65 cm. Musée Picasso-Paris © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Right: Yves Saint Laurent (French, 1936–2008). Homage to Pablo Picasso jacket, autumn-winter 1979. Blue, black and ivory wool. © Yves Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent’s designs inspired by Marcel Proust’s characters from À la recherche du temps perdu ( In Search of Lost Time ) were exhibited in the clock room at the Musée d’Orsay . At the Musée du Louvre , a dazzling Gallery of Apollo competed for the public’s attention against Saint Laurent’s gold-embroidered jackets , one of them once worn by Vreeland. The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris explored the reciprocal relationship between the couturier and modern art, showing how their collection inspired his work, and how he was also a source of inspiration for works like Andy Warhol’s Portraits of Yves Saint Laurent (1972).

Finally, at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris , housed in the designer’s former couture studio, visitors could marvel at one of the sunflower jackets and gain insight into the designer’s creative process. An astonishing number of sketches stood as proof of Saint Laurent’s prolific output. In preparation for his first Dior collection, for instance, he drew six hundred sketches in just fifteen days. Saint Laurent acknowledged that his creations didn’t come without feelings of anguish, “waiting for three weeks out of four for the click that sets my fantasies in motion toward their appointment with the physical world. It doesn’t seem like a gift, but I know it is.” [ 4 ]  

Installation view of Yves Saint Laurent Aux Musées, 2022 at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris. Toiles (‘muslins’) © Yves Saint Laurent Photograph © Aurola Wedman Alfaro. 

Saint Laurent initiated dialogues between art and fashion, and laid the foundation for contemporary brands that continue to create art-inspired looks. Forty years after The Costume Institute presented its retrospective, museums worldwide continue to showcase Saint Laurent’s creations, placing his work alongside the masterpieces that inspired him. Can we then consider Saint Laurent’s work that of an artist? Are his designs on par with fine art?

Saint Laurent did not carry grandiose pretensions; he never likened himself to Van Gogh or Picasso through his interpretation of their works. He was a student of culture and an avid art collector, adorning his home with works by De Chirico, Cézanne, Goya, Picasso, and Mondrian. He emphasized that his homages were the result of a profound admiration of the art form: “I didn’t copy them—who would venture to do that? I wanted to weave connections between the painting and the clothing.” [ 5 ]

Integrating art into his designs stemmed from a place of genuine admiration. In a similar vein to how we curate our lives through social media, sharing snapshots of things we love, declarations of our values, and highlights of our travels, Saint Laurent curated his worldview and expressed it through his chosen medium—clothing. His subversion of gender norms resulted in tuxedos for women, his passion for Proust materialized in designs inspired by his characters, and his love for painting found its way into the motifs of his clothing.

“My weapon is the way I look at my times and the art of my times.” 

This process was perhaps part of his own learning journey, a means of better understanding the artists Saint Laurent admired by applying their teachings to his own craft. He understood that this was his zone of genius. “My weapon is the way I look at my times and the art of my times,” he wrote in Yves Saint Laurent and Art . He immersed himself in real and imaginary worlds—and from these, he emerged with tangible designs that embodied the essence of wearable art.

Saint Laurent made his designs accessible to a wider clientele through his ready-to-wear line, and the success of his Mondrian dresses led to their replication by mass manufacturers, resulting in abundant inexpensive copies. Whether or not it was his intention, Saint Laurent expanded the reach of artworks beyond the confines of museum walls and into human lives. At the very least, he challenged perceptions by demonstrating that women, irrespective of their race or class, deserved to wear works of art. Saint Laurent’s understanding of women, art, and the zeitgeist played a role in his ability to connect with his audience and craft designs that tapped into their aspirations, presenting them with the extraordinary opportunity to wear something beyond their wildest dreams.

Yves Saint Laurent (French, 1936–2008). ‘Homage to My House’ jacket, spring-summer 1990. Organza embroidered with gold and rock crystal. Photograph courtesy of Guy Marineau © Guy Marineau

[1] Madison Cox, Stephan Janson, and Mouna Mekouar, eds., Yves Saint Laurent and Art (New York : Thames & Hudson, 2022), 25.  Return

[2] Diana Vreeland et al., Yves Saint Laurent . (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art : Clarkson N. Potter, 1983).  Return

[3] Ibid.  Return

[4] Ibid.  Return

[5] Yves Saint Laurent, “Mon Dialogue avec L’Art” in Yves Saint Laurent : Dialogue avec L’Art . (Paris: Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, 2004), 9.  Return

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Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography

A living legend whose success appears to directly correlate to his unhappiness, Yves Saint Laurent stepped up to the fashion plate in 1957, when at 21 he succeeded his mentor, Christian Dior, as chief designer for the fashion house. Over the next two decades, he made fashion history with elegantly practical high fashion. Rawsthorn’s enthusiasm for Saint Laurent’s professional genius doesn’t soften her depiction of this French forerunner, who she says has increasingly distanced himself from the world through money, mood enhancers, and an ill-tempered bulldog named Moujik. From his early 20s, when he was locked up in a mental hospital after a disastrous army stint, Saint Laurent has been emotionally fragile and socially phobic, despite his roster of high-profile friends (Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Catherine Deneuve). Rawsthorn, a Financial Times writer, weaves many intimate details into her account, from Saint Laurent’s favorite dish (Uncle Ben’s rice and vegetables) to his favorite suicide fantasy (a journey to the bottom of the Seine), holding back only on the subject of his current mental state. Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography helps decrypt the life and work of a man who is inscrutable, but who has, as one friend put it, ”always, always been true to himself.”

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Founded in 1961, Yves Saint Laurent is one of the most prominent fashion houses of the 20th century. Originally a House of Haute Couture, Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized the way fashion and society merge and interact in 1966 with the introduction of high-end made clothes produced on a larger scale than the exclusive collections.

Since its inception, Yves Saint Laurent has held influence both inside and outside the fashion industry. Over the years, its founder, the couturier Yves Saint Laurent secured a reputation as one of the 20th century’s foremost designers and personalities.

  The Maison was the first one to be revolutionary, and this spirit is a fundamental part of its DNA. 

Saint Laurent’s status as a leading fashion House is fully established and recognized by a very distinctive identity and strong codes; identified and made still relevant.  Saint Laurent competes globally with the most-high-end exclusive luxury brands and occupies a leading position. 

Under the creative vision of Anthony Vaccarello and the leadership of Francesca Bellettini , the brand has built solid foundations for its development and is pursuing its evolution to continue enhancing its influence in the market. 

With this strategy firmly in place, Saint Laurent will continue growing and affirming itself in the 21st century as a brand with a strong and clear DNA.

5 Must-Know Tales About The Late Yves Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent in his studio.

Today marks what would have been Yves Saint Laurent ‘s 82nd birthday. The French designer, who tragically lost his battle with cancer 10 years ago in Paris, has left an indelible mark on fashion that won’t soon be forgotten. Here, in honor of Saint Laurent’s legacy, we round up five facts to know about the iconic couturier.

#1. He was born and raised in Algeria Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born to Lucienne and Charles Mathieu-Saint-Laurent in 1936 in Oran, a port city in Algeria then under French rule. Though Algeria was on the brink of the violent War of Independence, the designer remembered the city as “a cosmopolitan place made up of merchants from everywhere and especially somewhere else… a city that sparkled in a multicolored patchwork under the calm North African sun.” He would eventually move to Paris at the age of 17, where he would enroll at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.

#2. His first taste of fashion was designing dresses for paper dolls Saint Laurent grew up in a Mediterranean villa alongside his older sisters, Michèle and Brigitte. As a shy and timid schoolboy, Saint Laurent was bullied by his peers at the Catholic church he attended, leading him to seek refuge in design. At a young age, he would use scraps of his mother’s clothes to create miniature couture ensembles for paper dolls, and stage fashion shows with these dolls for his siblings and their friends. He would even go so far as to create elaborate invitations for the invitees. As he grew older, Saint Laurent moved from designing ensembles for paper dolls to dreaming up dresses for his mother and sisters.

Courtesy of Rex.

#3. He became the creative director of Christian Dior aged 21 In 1953, Saint Laurent’s drawings caught the attention of Michel de Brunhoff, who was editor-in-chief of French Vogue at the time. Brunhoff showed the sketches to Christian Dior , who hired the talented young designer as an assistant in 1955. When Dior died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1957, the then-21-year-old Saint Laurent was made the creative director of the prestigious maison . His first offering, the Spring 1958 Trapeze collection, practically saved the house from financial ruin. However, things took a turn in 1960, when Saint Laurent found himself conscripted to serve in the French Army during the Algerian War of Independence. Following 20 days of hazing by fellow soldiers, the designer was admitted into a military hospital, where he received the unexpected news that he had been let go from his post as creative director for Dior. The unsettling news worsened his condition, leading to large doses of sedatives and psychoactive drugs, as well as electroshock therapy. Saint Laurent blames his time at the hospital for the mental illness and addiction that plagued him for the rest of his adult life. Upon his release from the hospital, the designer sued Dior for breach of contract, and won. He then started up his own, eponymous label with his longtime business partner Pierre Bergé .

#4. He was the first living designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art In 1983, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced that the Costume Institute’s exhibition would be completely devoted to the works of Saint Laurent. It would go on to be the first retrospective of a living couturier’s work. The show, entitled “Yves Saint Laurent: 25 Years of Design”, was organized by Diana Vreeland, and displayed 243 of the designer’s most extraordinary creations, including the famous Mondrian- and Matisse-inspired designs from 1965, and the velvet bridal coat embroidered with the words “Love Me Forever Or Never”, an alternative to the white, billowing wedding dress.

#5. He revolutionized the way women dress His biggest regret may be that he didn’t invent denim, but the designer has revolutionized the way women dress in more ways than one can imagine. The prolific Saint Laurent was the creator of the still-iconic “Le Smoking”, the first-ever women’s tuxedo suit that quickly became a symbol of emancipation in the 1960s, an era when women wearing anything but dresses was deemed taboo. During his last haute couture show in 2002, the designer recalled: “I always wanted to put myself at the service of women. I wanted to accompany them in the great movement for liberation that occurred last century.” The constantly reinterpreted Le Smoking was the first of a string of eternal designs including safari jackets, color block Mondrian dresses, and the “chubby” from Monsieur Saint Laurent’s 1971 couture Libération/Quarante, or Scandal, collection.

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Yves Saint Laurent

Born: Oran, Algeria, 1936 Died: Paris, France, 2008

Copyright © AFP / Jean-Régis Roustan / Roger-Viollet

With an early interest in fashion, Yves Saint Laurent was inspired by Moliere’s Ecole des Femmes, impressed by the costumes and sets.

In 1953 Saint Laurent won first prize in a competition sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat for a black cocktail dress.

Encouraging his aspirations, Saint Laurent travelled to Paris in 1955, enrolling in a professional cutting school for three months.

That same year, Saint Laurent’s drawing’s caught the attention of French Vogue editor, Michel de Brunhoff. Struck by the similarity of  Christian Dior ’s forthcoming collection, Brunhoff introduced Saint Laurent to Dior, who immediately hired him as an assistant.

In 1957 Christian Dior unexpectedly died of a stroke. His sudden death left Saint Laurent named as head designer of the house of Dior.

Saint Laurent presented his first collection in January 1958. At the time the house of Dior was responsible for nearly 50% of French fashion exports, making Saint Laurent’s success crucial for the French economy. The show featuring the “trapeze” look was deemed triumphant with the Parisians, proclaiming that Yves Saint Laurent had saved France.

Saint Laurent’s second collection for Dior saw drastically lowered hemlines and an emphasis on the décolletage. The following autumn/winter 59 collection saw skirts raised to the knees and belted waists.

In 1960 Saint Laurent was conscripted into the army. After only two months he was discharged due to ill health. Replacing Saint Laurent at Dior was  Marc Bohan .

The following year the house of Dior refused to reinstate Saint Laurent as head designer. Saint Laurent sued the label, eventually winning a share of the profits for the period during which he designed.

Announcing plans to open his own couture house, Saint Laurent partnered with Pierre Berge and J Mack Robinson. Saint Laurent presented his first collection in 1962. The press were encouraging; with Life magazine calling his designs “the best suits since  Chanel ”. In 1963 Diana Vreeland of American Vogue praised his collections, hailing it beautiful and charming. This started Vreeland’s continuous extolment of Yves Saint Laurent.

In 1966 Saint Laurent opened the first Saint Laurent Rive Gauche boutique in Paris. The line successfully reinvented Saint Laurent’s couture style to ready-to-wear.

Throughout the following years Saint Laurent created pivotal trends and styles including the Le Smoking jacket from 1966, which heralded the arrival of androgynous elegance and the safari look in 1968, featuring the shirt dress and safari jacket.

In 1971 Saint Laurent shocked the public with the advertising campaign for the first YSL men’s fragrance. ‘Pour Homme’ featured Saint Laurent himself posing nude.

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In 1982 Saint Laurent celebrated the 20 th  anniversary of the house of Saint Laurent. Diana Vreeland personally presented him with the International Fashion Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

The following year the Metropolitan Museum of Art honoured Saint Laurent with a retrospective, “Yves Saint Laurent, Twenty-Five Years of Design”. The exhibition marked Saint Laurent as the first living designer to be honoured by the museum.

In 1985 Saint Laurent was awarded the medal of the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur at the Elysee palace. Saint Laurent was again honoured with another retrospective, put on by the Musee des Arts de la Mode, in 1986.

Saint Laurent sold his fashion house in 1993 to the pharmaceuticals company, Sanofi.

In 1998 the company held a 300-model fashion extravaganza at the final match of the football World Cup. The following year Saint Laurent’s timeless achievements were recognised by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, awarding him a Lifetime Achievement award.

That same year Gucci bought the YSL brand, appointing Tom Ford as designer of ready-to-wear, while keeping Saint Laurent as designer of the Haute Couture collections.

In 2002 Saint Laurent retired, choosing to spend most of his time in Marrakech, Morocco.

Tom Ford left the company in 2004. Succeeding Ford was Stefano Pilati,

In 2007, Saint Laurent was again honoured, being made a Grand Officer de la Legion d’honneur by French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The following year Saint Laurent died of brain cancer, aged 71.

In 2007, Yves Saint Laurent was honored with the rank of Grand officier de la Légion d’honneur by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He and Pierre Bergé also established a foundation in Paris dedicated to preserving the history of the YSL brand, housing an impressive collection of 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.

Yves Saint Laurent passed away on 1 June 2008 due to brain cancer at his residence in Paris. Prior to his death, he and Bergé entered into a same-sex civil union in France. Knowing that Saint Laurent had only a short time left to live, Bergé and the doctor decided not to inform him of his impending death, believing he would not be strong enough to bear the news.

Saint Laurent’s funeral was held at Église Saint-Roch in Paris and was attended by notable figures, including former Empress of Iran Farah Pahlavi, Bernadette Chirac, Catherine Deneuve, and President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni. His ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech, Morocco, a place he co-owned with Bergé and often found solace and inspiration.

In February 2009, Christie’s held an auction of the couple’s extensive art collection, with the proceeds intended for a new foundation for AIDS research. The auction set records, including the sale of Matisse’s painting Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose, which broke the previous world record for a Matisse work. The subsequent auction included items from their Normandy villa, showcasing some of the designer’s personal belongings.

Yves Saint Laurent was posthumously rated the top-earning dead celebrity in 2009 by Forbes. His legacy continues to live on in the fashion world and beyond.

Yves Saint Laurent Biography

Written by Saxony Dudbridge

Saxony Dudbridge was one of the first contributors to the Catwalk Yourself project, Saxony studies International Fashion Marketing and she is responsible for our great History and Designers Biographies sections.

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Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography Hardcover – December 1, 1996

• Print length 320 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Nan A. Talese
• Publication date December 1, 1996
• Dimensions 6.75 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
• ISBN-10 0385476450
• ISBN-13 978-0385476454
• See all details

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Alice Rawsthorn has followed the fashion industry for many years for the Financial Times of London, and her unique access has enabled her towrite this biography, the first full account of Saint Laurent's life andbusiness. Full of the drama and excitement of the fashion scene, Yves SaintLaurent is the remarkable story of a remarkable man. Copyright © 1996 by Alice Rawsthorn.

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From the back cover, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nan A. Talese; First Edition (December 1, 1996)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0385476450
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0385476454
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
• #3,388 in Fashion (Books)
• #5,122 in Fashion Design
• #254,560 in Biographies (Books)

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Yves Saint Laurent

Film costumer designer, 1936 – 2008, who was yves saint laurent.

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, known as Yves Saint Laurent, was a French fashion designer, and is regarded as one of the greatest names in fashion history. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable." He is also credited with having introduced the tuxedo suit for women and was known for his use of non-European cultural references, and non-White models.

Three documentaries have been made about Saint Laurent's life: David Teboul's "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times", "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris" and Pierre Thoretton's "L'Amour Fou". In 2014, two movies, Saint Laurent and Yves Saint Laurent, focused on his life.

Famous Quotes:

• We must never confuse elegance with snobbery.
• I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes.

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• Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent
• Yves St. Laurent
• Yves Saint-Laurent
• Lucienne Andree Mathieu-Saint-Laurent
• Charles Mathieu-Saint-Laurent
• Michelle Mathieu-Saint-Laurent
• Brigitte Mathieu-Saint-Laurent
• Pierre Bergé (1961 - 1976)
• Pierre Bergé (2008 - 2008/06/01)
• Fashion Designer
• Founder, Saint Laurent Paris (1962 - 2002)
• Christian Dior S.A. (1957 - 1962)

Submitted on July 23, 2013

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Construction Begins for Canada’s New Warship Fleet – the River Class Destroyers

From: National Defence

News release

Today, the Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence, joined by Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) and Dirk Lesko, President of Irving Shipbuilding Inc., celebrated the start of construction activities for Canada’s new fleet of Canadian Surface Combatants (CSC).

June 28, 2024 – Halifax, Nova Scotia – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

Minister Blair and Vice-Admiral Topshee also announced that the new fleet of warships will be known as River-class destroyers, and the first three ships will be named His Majesty’s Canadian Ships (HMCS) Fraser , Saint-Laurent , and Mackenzie .

Ship names are chosen carefully, and they tell the story of the RCN. Not only are these three ships named after Canada’s most important waterways that reach the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, they are also a tribute to previous Canadian warships with the same names – ships that made heroic wartime contributions and represented cutting-edge technological innovation. The RCN intends to foster a sense of pride in our sailors by connecting these ships to Canada’s maritime heritage.

The CSC project is the largest and most complex shipbuilding initiative in Canada since the Second World War and represents a historic investment into the recapitalization of the RCN’s surface fleet. This project will equip the RCN with new, state-of-the-art warships to bolster Canada’s naval capabilities at home, and abroad, for decades to come. The River-class will be Canada’s major component of maritime combat power, enabling us to continue to monitor and defend our own coastal waters, and contribute significantly to international naval operations alongside our Allies.

Today marked the start of construction on the production test module (PTM) , through which the Government of Canada and Irving Shipbuilding Inc. will be able to test and streamline processes, and implement lessons learned into the build process, to enable the start of full rate production in 2025. Delivery of the first River-class destroyer, HMCS Fraser , is expected in the early 2030s, with the final ship expected by 2050.

The CSC project will support sustainable growth in Canada’s marine supply chain. The build phase of CSC will create and/or maintain approximately 10,800 jobs annually throughout the 25-year construction period across the country. The design phase of the project will create and/or maintain approximately 5,000 Canadia n jobs annually across the economy. In total, this project will generate at least $40 billion in cumulative Gross Domestic Product.

As indicated in our renewed vision for defence, Our North, Strong and Free , the Government of Canada is committed to a renewed relationship with Canada’s defence industry, based on clarity, certainty, and long-term partnership. The CSC project is an excellent example of how the Government of Canada is investing in Canada’s domestic shipbuilding industry, while also equipping the RCN with a fleet of modern and effective ships to support operations well into the future.

The CSC is based on BAE Systems’ Type 26 warship design being built by the United Kingdom and Australia. The ships will have enhanced underwater sensors, state-of-the-art radar, and modern weapons.

The official NATO Ship Designator for the River-class warship will be DDGH – a destroyer (DD) , guided (G) missile, helicopter (H) capable. As the RCN’s next generation combat ship, it replaces both the Iroquois-class destroyers and the Halifax-class frigates. As a powerful and multi-functional ship, the River-class warship is by definition a destroyer: a fast, manoeuvrable, anti-aircraft and anti-submarine long-endurance warship, which can escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats.

“Today, we launch construction on the largest Canadian shipbuilding project since the Second World War, marking an historic milestone for the Royal Canadian Navy. The River-class destroyers will provide the Canadian Armed Forces with the tools that they need to defend our national interests for decades to come – and ensure that Canada can deploy a state-of-the-art, combat-ready fleet of warships to defend our country and support our allies. As we invest in this new fleet, we are also supporting Canada’s shipbuilding industry and thousands of well-paying, skilled jobs. Bravo Zulu to everyone who has helped us reach this important day.”   The Honourable Bill Blair, Minister of National Defence

“The Canadian Surface Combatant project is at the core of our government’s commitment to revitalize Canada’s marine industry through the National Shipbuilding Strategy. The start of construction activities marks a significant milestone in the efforts to re-build Canada’s shipbuilding industry, bringing highly skilled jobs and economic benefits to Canadians during construction and throughout the operational life of the class. These modern ships will be critical to ensuring the ongoing ability of the members of the Royal Canadian Navy to continue their important work protecting Canadians.” The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement

“The start of construction on the Canadian Surface Combatants today marks a pivotal moment for Canada’s maritime defence sector. This significant investment not only strengthens our national security but also supports thousands of jobs and fosters growth in Canada’s marine supply chain, demonstrating our commitment to sustainable economic development and leadership in the shipbuilding industry.” The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

“The selection of an official name for our highly capable destroyers is an exciting moment for the RCN and perfectly timed as today marks the very beginnings of the construction process for the River-class – a clear sign of tangible progress towards our future fleet. The River-class embodies the waterways which are the veins and arteries of our nation and celebrates some of the great ships from the RCN’s history.” Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, Commander, Royal Canadian Navy 

Quick facts

The CSC will replace the capabilities found in both the retired Iroquois-class destroyers (four) and the Halifax-class frigates (12) with a single, and combat-capable ship to meet multiple threats on both the open ocean and in the highly complex coastal environment.

The CSC project is currently budgeted at between $56-60 billion (before taxes), and includes the cost for 15 new , state-of-the-art warships, as well as all the components required to design, build, and bring these ships into service (design work, infrastructure, ammunition, technical data, initial training, project management, and contingency costs).

The CSC is leveraging the latest technology, and flexibility of design to enable a multi-role capability in a single class. This will help to ensure alignment, interoperability and interchangeability with our closest allies and partners in a complex and rapidly evolving global security and threat environment.

This PTM will enable the shipyard to develop and test CSC specific build processes, with the aim of benefitting from lessons learned and achieving process improvements to support the efficient start of full rate production on the first CSC ship, under an implementation contract, in 2025. Design work on the more complex sections of the ship will continue in parallel to the start of construction activities.

The Government of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy is a long-term, multi-billion-dollar program focused on renewing the Canadian Coast Guard and RCN fleets to ensure that Canada’s marine agencies have the modern ships they need to fulfill their missions, while revitalizing Canada’s marine industry, creating good middle-class jobs and ensuring economic benefits are realized across the country.

Canada’s Industrial and Technological Benefits Policy applies to the CSC project, which requires the companies to make investments and provide business activities in Canada equal to the value of the related contracts.

To help bring the CSC into service and support them throughout their lifecycle, National Defence will build a land-based testing facility on a portion of DND-owned land at Hartlen Point in Halifax, N.S. Work to determine the building’s specifications is currently underway and the design phase will run until December 2024. We expect construction to begin this summer on early work packages and full mobilization in Winter 2025 with expected completion in 2027.

The River-class name was recommended by the RCN’s Ship Naming Committee. The thirty-two-person committee included military and civilian representation from various ranks and levels, RCN members from all Formations, representatives from all five Defence Diversity Advisory Groups (the Defence Indigenous Advisory Group, the Defence Advisory Group for Persons with Disabilities, the Defence Women’s Advisory Organization, the Defence Visible Minority Advisory Group, and the Defence Team Pride Advisory Organization), historians, and Honourary Captains. 

The naming of a class of ship is a time-honoured naval tradition. The RCN, much like other navies around the world, has a history of carrying the names of its ships forward. By re-introducing the River-class, the RCN establishes the future fleet’s connections with the honourable and distinguished service of its past ships and their ships’ companies.

Associated links

• Canadian Surface Combatant Project
• National Shipbuilding Strategy
• Government of Canada announces investment in shipbuilding infrastructure for the Canadian Surface Combatant
• Industrial and Technological Benefits
• Our North, Strong and Free: A Renewed Vision for Canada’s Defence

Diana Ebadi Press Secretary and Communications Advisor Office of the Minister of National Defence Email:   [email protected]

Media Relations Department of National Defence Phone: 613-904-3333 Email: [email protected]

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