yves saint laurent

Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent, known as the “King of

fashion” made his mark in the world in an iconic

way. Yves Henri DonatMatthieu Saint Laurent was

born on August 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria. 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.

Yves found a peace 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 ChambreSyndicale de la

Couture, where his designs quickly gained notice. In

1955 De Brunhoff also introduced Laurent to

designer Christian Dior, a giant in the fashion world.

Laurent was then hired. "Dior fascinated me,"

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.

In 1957 Yves took over The Dior House after

Dior’s death. Yves then went in creating his first

collection that included the “trapeze” silhouette.

This collection was a great success. In 1960 Saint

Laurent was called back to his home country of

Algeria to fight for its independence. The House of

Dior replaced Yves with Marc Bohan. Yves 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 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 bette

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 sh8eer blouse and

the jumpsuit.

By the 1980s, Yves 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 January 2002, Saint Laurent participated

in his final show and then retired for good in

Marrakech. Yves Saint Laurent passed away in Paris

on June 1, 2008 after an illness

http://www.biography.com/people/christian-dior-9275315

1966

Catherine Deneuve avec Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent Couture Le Smoking

French, 1960s

1966, Yves Saint Laurent

LE SMOKING

TUXEDO

Yves Saint Laurent, fashion house in 1979,

autumn-winter collection (haute couture)

Yves St Laurent, 1959.

1967

Yves Saint Laurent, Long evening ensemble,

haute couture collection,

Fall-Winter 1984.

Yves Saint Laurent, Short evening coat, haute

couture collection,

Spring-Summer 1971

Prints and colour

1969 Yves Saint Laurent Safari Suit with Belt

France

1969.

African Collection mini-dress, Summer,

Spring-Summer, 1967

1968

Safari & African

October 1965 PARIS:THE GRIN AND THE

SHAPE Shrimpton in Mondrian by Yves Saint

Laurent.

Spring/summer 1980

Art

Spring 2002

Spring 2002

Spring 2002

1968

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AlberElbaz

Biography

Albert Elbaz was born in Casablanca,

Morocco in 1961. He immigrated to Israel

with his family at the age of ten, and grew up

in Holon. After serving in the Israeli Defense

Forces, he studied at the Shenkar College of

Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan. His life

partner is Alex Koo, Lanvin's director of

marketing.

In 1987, Elbaz moved to New York City,

worked for two years for a manufacturer of

mother-of-the-bride clothing. He went on to

work for Geoffrey Beene for seven years. He

says he was influenced by Beene's rejection of

trends and masterful drape and fit. "It was a

very beautiful relationship... Our best

dialogue was not in words," Elbaz has

reminisced

In 1997, Elbaz left Beene and, through retailer

Dawn Mello, was hired by the firm of Guy

Laroche. But, by the time of Elbaz's arrival,

the Laroche enterprise had become overly

conservative and lackluster. Even so, Elbaz

was able to update the collection and

somewhat enhance the image of the firm,

whose activities at the time included the

management of 15 boutiques and 70 license

agreements worldwide. However, he

departed within a year, 1998, and began

designing ready-to-wear women's clothing

for Yves Saint-Laurent, because Saint-Laurent

himself wished to withdraw from his hands-

on design of prêt-à-porter. In the position,

Elbaz's talent was recognized, and he would

have become the head designer of the house

when Saint-Larent retired. This was not to

happen because the Gucci Group purchased

YSL Rive Gauche, the ready-to-wear label,

and, hence, Gucci design director Tom Ford

dismissed Elbaz after 3 collections. Elbaz then

began working for Krizia in Italy and

designed a well-received inaugural

collection.

In October 2001, he was appointed artistic

director of Lanvin in Paris. Lanvin is the

oldest extant fashion house worldwide,

having been founded by Jeanne Lanvin, who

began making dresses in 1909 and millinery

earlier.Elbaz's simple and feminine clothing

— similar to the sporty, casual character of

Lanvin's 1920s outfits— has been lauded by

the fashion press.

Le Smoking Tuxedo

spring 2000 ready-to-wear

fall 2000 ready-to-wear

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Tom Ford

Biography

Born in Texas in 1962, Tom Ford has

become the most influential designer

of the last decade.

Tom made his move to the Big Apple

as a teenager and enrolled at the NY

University, in Art History, before

changing to take up Architecture at

Parsons School of Design in New York.

In 1986 he joined the creative staff of

the famous American designer Cathy

Hardwick, and two years later he

became the Design Director at Perry

Ellis. By 1990 Tom had moved to

Milan and joined the team at Gucci, as

Women’s Wear Designer. Within two

years he’d climbed the corporate

ladder to become Gucci’s Creative

Director.

After Gucci bought a controlling stake

in Yves Saint Laurent, Ford was

appointed creative director. Ford says

the secret of his success is his energy,

and he only sleeps around three hours

a night. His celebrity fans include the

likes of Madonna, Bianca Jagger and

TrudieStyler.

Tom caused a bit of an advertising stir

with the promotion for his M7

fragrance. The campaign featured

naked model Samuel de Cubber in a

full-frontal pose. But as Tom says:

"Perfume is worn on the skin, so why

hide the body? The M7 campaign is

really pure, it’s a very academic nude.

I wanted to show a man who

represents a natural and relaxed

image of male beauty".

Tom also hit the headlines with his

sensational Gucci ad, featuring a

naked woman whose bikini line has

been waxed into the shape of the

letter `G`.

In 2004, Ford parted company with

Gucci, after a disagreement over his

contract.

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Stephano Pilati

Biography

Stefano Pilati was born in Milan,

Italy in 1965. He is an Italian fashion

designer. He has been creative director at

Yves Saint-Laurent since 2004.

Pilati was raised in Milan, where he grew

up in a "family of stylish women".

Inspired by his two sisters' fashion

magazines, he created his first sketches

for his sisters.

While Pilati was studying environmental

design in Milan in the 1980s, he

completed an internsip at Cerruti. He was

later employed by an Italian velvet

company before working for Armani

between 1993 and 1995 as a menswear

assistant. He joined the Prada Group in

1995, where he designed for Miu

Miu's men's and women's collections.

Pilati has also worked for Miu Miu. Pilati

first joined YSL in March 2000 as

women's design director, the second-in-

command to then-creative director Tom

Ford. In 2004, he was promoted to

creative director with the apparent

blessing of Yves Saint Laurent himself and

former YSL head Pierre Berge, both of

whom criticized Ford's designs.

(Alexander McQueen had previously been

considered for the position, but he turned

down the job to concentrate on his

signature collection.) Pilati's first designs

were displayed in YSL's cruise and men's

collections in June 2004, and his official

international debut was the October 2004

Spring 2005 women's collection.

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Spring/summer 2011

YVES SAINT LAURENT

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