^ i agree. stefano has such respect for the house yet still keeps it up with the changing times. anyway, the swan song collection was the last one he did, his farewell show in 2002. here's the review from vogue uk:
YVES SAINT LAURENT's 200th and final fashion show, staged last night in Paris' Pompidou Centre, was a farewell to remember. With more than 2,000 guests inside (holding invitations valued at £2,000 on the black market) and several thousand more spectators gathered outside to watch on vast outdoor screens, 100 models paraded 40 newly designed couture gowns and hundreds of past masterpieces in a spectacular retrospective of the great designer's 40-year career. Out came the historic trousersuits, for wearing which female YSL execs were once vilified long ago, to a recording of the designer talking, aged 26. Among the mega-models who weren't going to miss this for the world, Claudia Schiffer strode out in a beige safari jacket and black knee-length shorts, under a Vogue photo of the same outfit from 1966. Also from that year came the geometric Mondrian dresses, followed by his once shockingly sheer evening dresses from 1968, floral puffballs, beaded jackets, chiffon peasant tops and a multitude of flounce-skirted LBDs. Brides. Spanish senoritas. And then Naomi Campbell in an emerald green fur coat, a nod to YSL's Forties revival, Jerry Hall, swirling her white satin gown, and Carla Bruni in a black velvet column dress and a jewel-bright yellow opera coat from 1971. One and a half hours later, an emotional YSL made his way to the end of the runway, where his muse Catherine Deneuve stood singing Ma Plus Belle Histoire d'Amour c'est Vous, and received a last, hard-earned standing ovation. (23 January, 2002)
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... they lived and laughed and loved and left ... pseudo-oz~ tintin!
I work in a costume museum. We have a few YSL pieces from back in the heyday (including a Mondrian dress!) they're one of the few that still are so delicious to look at. I caught one of my co-workers trying on a jacket! She just couldn't resist.
I work in a costume museum. We have a few YSL pieces from back in the heyday (including a Mondrian dress!) they're one of the few that still are so delicious to look at. I caught one of my co-workers trying on a jacket! She just couldn't resist.
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"...buttoned up to the breast, and made with wings, welts, and pinions on the shoulder points, as mans apparel is for all the world...and though this be a kinde of attire appropriate onely to man, yet they blush not to wear it..."
Fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent collapses outside boutique
article and pic are from thisislondon.co.uk
These dramatic pictures in a Paris street show leading fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent collapsed in the road outside his boutique, just hours after his latest catwalk triumph.
After celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes had applauded his YSL label's latest creations during his show at the French capital's fashion week, the 70-year fell down in Avenue Montaigne, close to the Champs Elysee.
Aides rushed to help the 70-year-old, pictured lying next to his black Mercedes.
It follows increasing concerns about the multi-millionaire's health after a lifetime of high living involving drink, drugs and numerous glamorous girfriends.
"Yves collapsed suddenly and without warning," said an onlooker.
"Yves never looks super healthy at the best of times, but this came as a real shock."
"It was nasty fall. Medics arrived very quickly and he was rushed away for treatment. We are just hoping that he is going to be all right."
Laurent, who was born in Algeria when it was a French colony, left home at the age of 17 to work for the designer Christian Dior before setting up his own label YSL, based on his intitials.
During the 1960s and 70s he become synonymous with trends including the beatnik look and tweed suits.
Shortly after his early successes he was conscripted into the French army during the Algerian war of independence.
But after just 20 days of active service he was institutionalised in a mental hospital where he underwent psychiatric treatment including electroshock therapy for a nervous breakdown.
He has since suffered with a number of ailments including depression, often brought on by alcohol and drug abuse.
While the YSL house no longer exists, the brand still survives through its parent company Gucci.
He announced his retirement from the fashion industry after 40 years in 2002.
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 label's show on Thursday night was considered a highlight of this year's Paris Fashion Week.
*I just hope that he recovers soon. btw the writer seems to think that Yves still works on the shows?
PARIS (Reuters) - Fashion recluse Yves Saint Laurent fell in a Paris street on Friday and lay motionless in the road for several minutes surrounded by aides until emergency services arrived to help him, video footage showed.
A spokeswoman at the Yves-Saint-Laurent Foundation said the 70-year-old designer was well and had returned home, denying rumours he was seriously ill.
"Monsieur Saint Laurent did not have a heart attack. He just missed the curb, dropping into his car, and he fell," she said, declining to give her name.
"He's fine and he did not go to the hospital."
Footage shot by a passing cameraman showed Saint Laurent lying in the roadside behind a car. After a while emergency services arrived and the video was cut.
A spokesman for the emergency services declined to give any information.
The bespectacled Yves Saint Laurent, whose couture creations have fine art status on four continents, ruled the French fashion world from the age of 21 until his retirement in 2002.
His health is very fragile and he is rarely seen in public.