Yves Saint Laurent has died, age 71, at home in Paris. The cause of death has not been released.
He was born on August 1st 1936 to a lawyer father and housewife mother, and had two sisters. They were three of the best dressed women on earth.
He first rose to fashion prominence when Christian Dior died and he replaced him as head of the fashion house in 1957, until he was drafted for military service in September 1960. By November he had suffered a nervous collapse and was discharged, but did not return to working for Dior. He sued for failure to reinstate him as the head designer and failure to provide severence pay, and used the money from this settlement to start his own fashion house, named Yves Saint Laurent.
He announced the creation of the YSL brand in September 1961, with his lover Mr Pierre Bergé. They remained lifelong business partners, but split romantically in 1980.
Yves Saint Laurent was responsible, many believe, for it to be acceptable for women to wear pants, saying notably “My small job as a couturier is to make clothes that reflect our times. I’m convinced women want to wear pants.”
He was also a champion of the capsule wardrobe, encouraging women to buy classic pieces and not slavishly follow fashion. “A woman’s wardrobe shouldn’t change every six months. You should be able to use the pieces you already own and add to them. Because they are like timeless classics.”
he was also the first designer to use black models, and to popularize ready-to-wear clothing lines.
Yves Saint Laurent had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, and suffered from depression. He retired from the fashion house in 2002, citing health reasons, but the brand still survives through Gucci.
Biography from Wiki and New York Times
There’s a great biography to be written here, I’ll bet. The highs – as described above – and the lows, which there has been very little information about. This guy has lived quite a life.
I’m saddened to hear about this. May he rest in peace.
He’d seemed frail for quite a while, but I’m surprised to learn that he was only 71. This seems comparatively young to me as my father is that age.
I shall be wearing my YSL makeup and perfume in memoriam (and it’s a good excuse to splurge on the cuff i’ve seen recently and seriously coveted – I’m paying my last respects! 😉 )
Me too, I’d love to read an in-depth account of his life because he was such a maverick. I’ve seen a couple of documentaries on him and (like Chanel, another maverick) they were fascinating and just make me want to know so much more about him.
Sad news but what a life and legacy.
I too was surprised at this, 71 is really not elderly any more. It makes me feel sad – while most of my clothes come from other designers (Sears, Penney’s), Opium is my scent. I would love to read his biography.
He died from a brain cancer, that’s what they officially said in the news at noon.
RIP to this modern fashion genius.
I used to go to his fashion shows here in Paris in the 90’s, and I remember how frail he’d look when he’d hobble onto the stage at the end of each show. It would be a bit disconcerting to see this icon in such ill health, shaking and clearly moving with difficulty. Some shows he wouldn’t appear at all.
J-P Gaultier is the last GREAT French fashion legend left. They should have given him YSL when Yves retired in 2002.
YSL 4 eva
mamalicious : it was out of the question Gaultier would take over YSL when Yves retired. Gaultier’s own household was already big enough to be living by itself and taking all of Gaultier’s time and talent…
I do believe you’re wrong when saying Gaultiers is the last great French fashion legend to be alive. Christian Lacroix is definitely one of the other “ultrafamous” French fashion icons. But Jean-Louis Scherrer or Dominique Sirop are just a few other great fashion legends (both have a true Haute Couture line too).
I believe that Sonia Rykiel is also a true fashion legend of France although she’s of course into the Ready To Wear clothing (but she did do spectacular revolutions in the knitting department of Fashion).
As for me, I remain silent and speechless. He has been ill and looking very fragile for many years now. But it still hurts to know he is gone.
All my colleagues were wearing YSL today. And no lady in my department dared to wear sunglasses of another designer…
Puissiez-vous reposer en paix, Monsieur.
It has been a beautiful adventure to have this man create clothing and revolutionize the Fashion industry in this very country. Merci Yves.
Many a gorgeous item came down the runway and into our upscale stores thanks to his creative genius. He will be missed!
Bellatrix, I know what you mean about Lacroix and the others, but perhaps Hubert de Givenchy would pip them all to the post for being the bigger icon (especially with all he did for Hepburn and Jackie)?:wink:
But I still maintain that JPG is the last real french legend left (I mean still-working one left).
Maybe Crispin Glover can play YSL in his biopic. (R.I.P.)
Hello, just doing some browsing for my Christian Dior website. Truly more information than you can imagine on the web. Not what I was looking for, but interesting page. Cya later.