Tip of the day: YSL in a nutshell
So we have all been hearing much about the legendary Yves Saint Laurent. But what do you really know about him? Here is one of the most influential fashion designers of all time, in a nutshell.
Childhood
Childhood
- Born in Oran, Algeria
- Son of an insurance company president father and fashionable mother
- Began study at Chambre Syndicale de la Couture; quit shortly after
- Began working for Christian Dior by 17
- By 21, after Dior's 1957 death, he was put in charge of the house
- Was made to serve the French Army but, the ever fragile Yves was let go after 20 days for mental reasons
- Suffered a breakdown shortly after; treatments included electroshock therapy
- In 1962, right after his breakdown, he was released from Dior; began his own company with his lover Pierre Berge
- Yves and Pierre split in 1976 but remain business partners, loyal friends until the end
- 1983 was the first living designer to be honored by the Met with a solo exhibit
- 2002 retirement; became extremely reclusive
- Created a foundation that comprised of 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces from the YSL company
- In spring 2008 Yves and Pierre were joined in marriage at a same-sex civil union ceremony
- Passed on June 1, 2008 from brain cancer at his Paris homes; ashes were scattered at his favorite location in Marrakech, Morocco
- Loulous de la Falaise
- Betty Catroux
- Talitha Pol-Getty
- Catherin Denevuve
- Nicole Dorier
- Katouche Niane
- Laetitia Casta
- Dressing is a way of life.
- Fashions fade, style is eternal.
- 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.
- It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion.
- Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?
- Ready to wear
- Trapeze dress
- Beatnik look
- Safari jackets
- Boots over pants
- Thigh high boots
- Le Smoking suit
- First to use black runway models
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