Legendary Designer Yves Saint Laurent Dies at 71

[Versace-Goddess]

RIP

Such a legend has gone. Such a lost.

 

[sweetpop]

i have something similar to MissMagAddict's post(s), and there is a slideshow of photos accompaning the article.

Yves Saint Laurent, one the top French designers of the 20th century, died last night in Paris, a source in the fashion icon's foundation said.
"Yves Saint Laurent died Sunday at 11.10pm,'' the source in Pierre-Berge-Saint Laurent Foundation said.
The reclusive French maestro, who had retired from haute couture in 2002 after four decades at the top of his trade, had been ill for some time.
One of a handful of designers who dominated 20th century fashion - on a par with Christian Dior, Coco Chanel and Paul Poiret - Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in the coastal town of Oran, Algeria, on August 1, 1936, at a time when the North African country was still considered part of France.
A shy, lonely, child, he became fascinated by clothes, and already had a solid portfolio of sketches when he first arrived in Paris in 1953, aged 17.
Vogue editor Michel de Brunoff, who was to become a key supporter, was quickly won over, and published them.
The following year Saint Laurent won three of the four categories in a design competition in Paris -- the fourth went to his contemporary Karl Lagerfeld, now at Chanel.
Discerning the young man's potential, de Brunoff advised Christian Dior to hire him and he rapidly emerged as heir apparent to the great couturier, taking over the house when Dior died suddenly three years later.
However in 1960, like many Frenchmen of his age, Saint Laurent was called up to fight in his native Algeria, where an independence war was under way.
Less than three weeks later he won an exemption on health grounds, but when he returned to Paris Dior had already found a replacement for him, in the person of Marc Bohan.
With his close associate and lover Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent resolved to strike out on his own, with Berge, who survives the couturier, taking care of the business side.
Saint Laurent's success lay in the harmony he achieved between body and garment -- what he called "the total silence of clothing''.
He was also in the right place at the right time. Having learned his trade at the house of Dior, he founded his own couture house at the start of the 1960s, at a time when the world was changing and there was a new appetite for originality.
Saint Laurent rode his luck through the rise of the youth market and pop culture fuelled by the economic boom of the 1960s, when women suddenly had more economic freedom.
His name and the familiar YSL logo became synonymous with all the latest trends, highlighted by the creation of the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear label and perfume, as well as astute licensing deals for accessories and perfumes.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he set the pace for fashion around the world, opening up the Japanese market and subsequently expanding to South Korea and Taiwan.
In his later years the depression that had haunted him all his life became more oppressive.
When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles with depression, drugs and loneliness, though he gave no indication that those problems were directly tied to his decision to stop working.
"I've known fear and terrible solitude,'' he said. "Tranquilisers and drugs, those phony friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober.''

AFP/AP
Key dates in the life of Yves Saint Laurent:

- 1936: Born on August 1, in Oran, Algeria.
- 1954: Moves to Paris to study design and wins three of the four first prizes in the International Wool Secretariat competition.
- 1955: Hired as a design assistant by Christian Dior.
- 1957: Dior dies unexpectedly in Italy, and Saint Laurent is appointed the house's chief designer.
- 1958: First couture collection for Dior, the Trapeze Line, receives rave reviews. Meets future lover and business partner, Pierre Berge.
- 1960: Outrages conservative Dior clientele and executives with his "Beat Look" drawn from the streets of Paris. Is conscripted into the French army in September but has a nervous breakdown and is exempted two months later.
- 1961: Saint Laurent and Berge start living together and found the couture house. Saint Laurent wins a lawsuit against Dior for unfair dismissal. Designs costumes for a Roland Petit ballet and a Zizi Jeanmaire revue.
- 1962: First own-label couture show in January receives mixed reviews.
- 1964: Launch of "Y", his first perfume.
- 1965: His "Mondrian" dresses take Paris by storm in the July couture show. Begins long association and friendship with actress Catherine Deneuve by designing her costume for Luis Bunuel film's "Belle de Jour".
- 1966: The spring couture show features the first tuxedo for women, while the controversial autumn collection is inspired by Andy Warhol.
- 1968: The "safari look" and first see-through dress cause a sensation at the spring collection. Dedicates his autumn range to the student protesters of May 1968, including duffle coats and fringed jackets.
- 1969: Launches Rive Gauche men's range. Rive Gauche boutique opens in London.

- 1971: Poses naked for an advertisement for the first YSL for Men fragrance. Launches "Rive Gauche" perfume.
- 1973: After a period of doing only ready-to-wear, returns to couture.
- 1974: Moves premises to Avenue Marceau in Paris's eighth district.
- 1977: Launch of the perfume "Opium". The first of many rumours circulates to the effect that Saint Laurent has died.
- 1982: Twentieth anniversary gala at the Paris Lido.
- 1983: Launch of "Paris" perfume. YSL becomes the first designer to have a retrospective dedicated to his work in his own lifetime. In New York, where it opens, it is seen by a million people.
- 1985: Awarded the French Legion d'Honneur.
- 1986: Italian industrialist Carlo de Benedetti takes a 25 per cent stake in YSL and helps finance a $US630 million ($A660 million) buy-out of the perfume interests from the American outfit, Squibb.
- 1989: Unfounded press reports claim Saint Laurent is suffering from AIDS.
- 1990: Speculation about his health continues after he breaks down at his home in Marrakesh and is admitted to hospital in Paris. Fails to attend ready-to-wear show due to nervous exhaustion.
- 1991: Saint Laurent discusses his drug problems and homosexuality for the first time in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro.
- 1993: YSL is sold to Sanofi for $US650 million ($A680 million). January couture collection is dedicated to Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian ballet dancer who recently died of AIDS. Launch of the women's perfume "Champagne", leading to an ultimately successful lawsuit by producers of champagne wine over the use of the name.
- 1994: Successfully sues Ralph Lauren for copying a tuxedo dress design.
- 1995: Launches "Opium for Men" and relaunches the female version.
- 1999: Israeli-born Alber Elbaz makes his debut as designer for the ready-to-wear label in the spring collections. Gucci complete the takeover of Sanofi, the parent company of YSL and appoint their own creative director, Tom Ford.
- 2000: Ford is appointed to replace Berge as head of collections and named design and communications head for Yves Saint Laurent Couture and perfumes. A YSL museum opens in Paris.
- 2001: Saint Laurent celebrates his 65th birthday.
- 2002: In January, he marks the 40th anniversary of his couture house, and formally announces his retirement.

Everybody knows he was a brilliant designer, had a sparkling career, and I'm sure he was a great person to know! May he rest in peace! He has definitely earned his place!
these are just some pictures of Yves Saint Laurent from The Age:


Already a rising star in the 1950s, Yves Saint-Laurent boards a plane for the US to receive a fashion design award. Photo: AFP

Yves Saint Laurent pictured with a drawing of his cocktail dress design that won him first prize in a 1953 fashion drawing competition, sponsored by the International Wool Secratariat, in Paris. His success in the contest led to a job with Christian Dior. Photo: AFP


Yves Saint Laurent back at work in 1961. The year before he suffered a nervous breakdown after a brief stint in the French army fighting insurgents in the Algerian War of Independence. Photo: AFP


Hands on ... Yves St Laurent at work in his studio in the early 1960s.


Always a woman's man, Yves Saint Laurent is pictured here in the 1960s playfully chatting with models backstage. Photo: AFP

Outside his first London Rive Gauche shop on opening day Sept. 10, 1969, Yves Saint Laurent poses with Betty Catroux, left, and Loulou de la Falaise. All are attired in Yves Saint Laurent's ground breaking safari collection. Photo: AP

Making his mark ... YSL's 1967 African inspired dress embroidered with wooden beads, pearls and sequins and the iconic Le Smoking tuxedo for women. Yves Saint Laurent reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits, while the Algerian-born designer's affinity with Africa saw him incorporate African design themes into his collections and he was the first haute couture designer to use black models on his runway. Photo: AP

With French actress, Catherine Deneuve, left, and Russian ballerina Maia Plissetskaia, after the presentation of his 1973 collection in Paris. Photo: AP


Taking the world by storm in 1974. Photo: AP

Remaking the 70s in own image ... Yves Saint Laurent pictured, left, in 1974 and in 1977. Photo: AP

Art for art's sake ... YSL's famous Mondrian dress displayed during his retrospective haute couture fashion show at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, January 22, 2002. Photo: Reuters Ap

Jerry Hall modelling vintage YSL frames a picture of another of Saint Laurent's 60s designs at his retrospective haute couture fashion show at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, January 22, 2002. Photo: Reuters Ap


Known for his brilliant branding strategies, Yves Saint Laurent very successfully branched out into cosmetics, perfumes and accessories. Photo: AP
At the peak of his powers ... Yves Saint Laurent poses with models at the close of his 1989 haute couture show.

 

[sweetpop]

and here are the last four pictures

Man of many muses ... YSL with two of his favourite models in the 1990s, Claudia Schiffer and French supermodel Laetitia Casta. Photo: AP


Scenes from YSL's retrospective show at the Stade de France celebrating 40 years of his fashion career before the 1998 World Cup final. Photo: Reuters


YSL acknowledges the audience's applause at the close of his 1998-99 Autumn/Winter haute couture show. Photo: AP

Yves Saint Laurent with his long-time muses French supermodel Laetitia Casta, left, and long-time friend French actress Catherine Deneuve as they are surrounded by models at the end of his retrospective haute couture fashion show at Paris's Pompidou Centre in 2002. Photo: Reuters


In 2002, Yves Saint Laurent announces his retirement from the world of haute couture in Paris. Photo: AP

All photos from AP from The Age website.

 

[kiddokiddo]

May he rest in peace, what a lossa true inventor, a legend

 

[nat_attak]

rest in peace, yves saint laurent.

 

[vogue28]

RIP Yves saint laurent
a true designer, a legend.

 

[The_Ida]

RIP Yves

 

[dizzytacks]

devestating, i don't know what else to say, i feel lost right now!

 

[Aby]

Thanks for posting the article Sweetpop.

It's so moving to see his amzaing creations through the years. It's such a loss!

A designer who truly loved women's beauty and emphasized it is so rare.

Rest in peace Monsieur Saint-Laurent.

 

[Bebe_86]

This is such very sad news. Such a loss! He was such a big part of what made me love fashion and realise the ways you can express yourself with it. And he did really respect women. Incredible talent. Irreplaceable.

RIP Yves!

 

[MissMagAddict]

source | nytimes

Yves Saint Laurent at the end of his fall show in Paris in 1987

 

[Diorlover]

RIP, he will be missed!!

 

[harrietcamilla]

RIP Yves Saint Laurent.
He was one of the best designers of his generation.

 

[Milho]

Rest in Peace, the Great Yves Saint Laurent.

what a trememdous loss we've born!

 

[stella-mayfair]

le roi est mort.
i am weeping.

 

[fashionmag]

sad R.I.P. Yves Saint Laurent.

 

[BellaCouture]

R.I.P
I'm shocked

 

[spanglemaker]

rip

 

[seahorseinstripe]

it's a great loss on the world of fashion

 

[82ndfrag]

RIP Yves Saint Laurent, we'll all miss you dearly...