Yves Saint-Laurent
Encyclopedia
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, known as Yves Saint Laurent (iv sɛ̃ loʁɑ̃, August 1, 1936 – June 1, 2008), was a French
fashion designer, one of the greatest names in fashion history. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear
reputable." He is also credited with having introduced the tuxedo
suit for women, became the first designer to use ethnic models in his runway shows, and referenced other non-European cultures in his work.
A trilogy of documentaries have been made about Saint Laurent's life: David Teboul's "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" (2002), "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris" (2002), and Pierre Thoretton's "L'Amour Fou
" (2009).
, then lived in French Algeria
; he left for Paris after secondary school to pursue a fashion career and at 17 was hired as couturier Christian Dior
's assistant. When Dior died four years later, he was named head of the House of Dior. In 1961, Saint Laurent opened his own fashion house and quickly emerged as one of the world's most influential and spectacular designers.
magazine. De Brunhoff, a considerate person known for encouraging new talent, was impressed by the sketches Saint Laurent brought with him and suggested he become a fashion designer. Saint Laurent would eventually consider a course of study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture
, the council which regulates the haute couture
industry and provides training to its employees. Saint Laurent followed his advice and, leaving Oran for Paris after graduation, began his studies there and eventually graduated as a star pupil. Later that same year, he entered the International Wool Secretariat competition again and won, beating out his friend Fernando Sánchez
and young German student Karl Lagerfeld
. Shortly after his win, he brought a number of sketches to de Brunhoff who recognized close similarities to sketches he had been shown that morning by Christian Dior. Knowing that Dior had created the sketches that morning and that the young man could not have seen them, de Brunhoff sent him to Dior, who hired him on the spot.
Although Dior recognized his talent immediately, Saint Laurent spent his first year at the House of Dior on mundane tasks, such as decorating the studio and designing accessories. Eventually, however, he was allowed to submit sketches for the couture collection; with every passing season, more of his sketches were accepted by Dior. In August 1957, Dior met with Saint Laurent's mother to tell her that he had chosen Saint Laurent to succeed him as designer. His mother later said that she had been confused by the remark, as Dior was only 52 years old at the time. Both she and her son were surprised when in October of that year Dior died at a health spa in northern Italy of a massive heart attack.
Saint Laurent found himself at age 21 the head designer of the House of Dior. His spring 1958 collection almost certainly saved the enterprise from financial ruin; the straight line of his creations, a softer version of Dior's New Look, catapulted him to international stardom with what would later be known as the "trapeze dress." Others included in the collection were dresses with a narrow shoulder and flared gently at the bottom. At this time he shortened his surname to Saint Laurent because the international press found his hyphenated triple name difficult to spell.
His fall 1958 collection was not greeted with the same level of approval as his first collection, and later collections for the House of Dior featuring hobble skirt
s and beatnik
fashions were savaged by the press. In 1960, Saint Laurent found himself conscripted to serve in the French Army
during the Algerian War of Independence. Alice Rawsthorn writes that there was speculation at the time that Marcel Boussac
, the owner of the House of Dior and a powerful press baron, had put pressure on the government not to conscript Saint Laurent in 1958 and 1959 but reversed course and asked that the designer be conscripted after the disastrous 1960 season so that he could be replaced.
by fellow soldiers resulted in his being sent to a military hospital, where he received news that he had been fired by Dior. This merely added fuel to the fire, and he ended up in Val-de-Grâce
, a French military hospital
, where he was given large doses of sedatives and other psychoactive drugs and subjected to electroshock therapy. Saint Laurent himself traced the history of both his mental problems and his drug addictions to this time in hospital.
After his release from the hospital in November 1960, Saint Laurent sued Dior for breach of contract and won. After a period of convalescence, he and his partner
, industrialist Pierre Bergé
, started their own fashion house with funds from Atlanta millionaire J. Mack Robinson
. The couple split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners.
During the 1960s and '70s, the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik
look; safari jackets for men and women; tight pants; tall, thigh-high boots; and arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, the Le Smoking
. He also started mainstreaming the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s.
He was the first French couturier to come out with a full prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) line, although Alicia Drake
credits this move with Saint Laurent's wish to democratize fashion, others point out that other couture houses were preparing prêt-à-porter lines at the same time; the House of Yves Saint Laurent merely announced its line first. The first of the company's Rive Gauche stores, which sold the prêt-à-porter line, opened on the rue de Tournon in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, on 26 September 1966. The premier was attended by Yves Saint Laurent, and the first customer was Catherine Deneuve
.
Saint Laurent was also the first designer to use ethnic models in his runway shows and to reference other than European cultures in his work.
Many of his collections were received rapturously by both his fans and the press, such as the fall 1965 collection, which introduced Le Smoking tailored tuxedo suit. Other collections raised great controversy, such as his spring 1971 collection, which was inspired by 1940s fashion. Some felt it romanticized the German occupation of France during World War II, which he personally did not experience, while others felt it brought back the unattractive utilitarianism of the time. The French newspaper France Soir called the spring 1971 collection "Une grande farce!"
During the 1960s and '70s, Saint Laurent was considered one of Paris's "jet set
." He was often seen at clubs in France and New York, such as Regine's and Studio 54
, and was known to be both a heavy drinker and a frequent user of cocaine. When he was not actively supervising the preparation of a collection, he spent time at his villa in Marrakech
, Morocco. In the late 1970s, he and Bergé bought a neo-gothic villa, Château Gabriel in Benerville-sur-Mer
, near Deauville
, France. Yves Saint Laurent was a great admirer of Marcel Proust
who had been a frequent guest of Gaston Gallimard
, one of the previous owners of the villa. When they bought Château Gabriel, Saint Laurent and Bergé commissioned Jacques Grange
to decorate it with themes inspired by Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
The prêt-à-porter line became extremely popular with the public if not with the critics and eventually earned many times more for Saint Laurent and Bergé than the haute couture line. However, Saint Laurent, whose health had been precarious for years, became erratic under the pressure of designing two haute couture and two prêt-à-porter collections every year and turned more and more to alcohol and drugs. At some shows, he could barely walk down the runway at the end of the show, and he had to be supported by models.
After a disastrous 1987 prêt-à-porter show in New York City, which featured $100,000 jeweled casual jackets only days after the "Black Monday" stock market crash
, he turned over the responsibility of the prêt-à-porter line to his assistants. Although the line remained popular with his fans, it was soon dismissed as "boring" by the press.
with a solo exhibition. In 2001, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Légion d'Honneur
by French president Jacques Chirac
. He retired in 2002 and became increasingly reclusive, living at his homes in Normandy and Morocco with his pet French Bulldog
Moujik.
He also created a foundation with Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.
A favorite among his female clientele, Saint Laurent had numerous muses that inspired his work. Chief among these was Mounia-his oft used "bride" and 'Porgy and Bess' thematic Couture-garment model and frequent YSL cover-model in Women's Wear Daily
and French Vogue
, Somali
supermodel Iman
, whom he once described as his "dream woman." Other muses included Loulou de la Falaise
, the daughter of a French marquis and an Anglo-Irish fashion model; Betty Catroux
, the half-Brazilian daughter of an American diplomat and wife of a French decorator; Talitha Pol-Getty
; French actress Catherine Deneuve
; Nicole Dorier, a YSL top model in 1978–83, who became one of his assistants in organizing his runway shows and, later, the "memory" of his house when it became a museum; Guinean-born Senegalese supermodel Katoucha Niane
; supermodel Laetitia Casta
, who was the bride in his shows in 1997–2002.
In 2007, he was awarded the rank of Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur
by French President Nicolas Sarkozy
.
He died June 1, 2008 of brain cancer at his residence in Paris. According to The New York Times
, a few days before he died, Saint Laurent and Bergé were joined in a same-sex civil union
known as a Pacte civil de solidarité
(PACS) in France. He was survived by his mother and sisters; his father had died in 1988.
He was given a Catholic funeral at St. Roch Catholic Church in Paris. Yves' body was cremated and his ashes scattered in Marrakech
, Morocco, in the Majorelle Garden
, a botanical garden
that he often visited to find inspiration and refuge. Bergé said at the funeral service: “But I also know that I will never forget what I owe you and that one day I will join you under the Moroccan palms” (translated from French).
The funeral attendants included Empress Farah Pahlavi, Madame Chirac, and President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife at the time. Forbes
rated Saint Laurent the top-earning dead celebrity in 2009.
at the Grand Palais
, ranging from paintings by Picasso
to ancient Egyptian sculptures. Saint Laurent and Bergé began collecting art in the 1950s. Before the sale, Bergé commented that the decision to sell the collection was taken because, without Saint Laurent, "it has lost the greater part of its significance," with the proceeds proposed for the creation of a new foundation for AIDS research.
Before the sale commenced, the Chinese government tried to stop the sale of two 18th-century bronze Chinese zodiac sculptures, which had been stolen from the Old Summer Palace
by the French and British Forces, during invasion of China
, in 1860. A French judge dismissed the claim. The sculptures — a rabbit's head and a rat's head – both sold for €15,745,000 ($20,117,073), but it later became known that the bid had been placed by Cai Mingchao, a representative of China's National Treasures Fund, which was seeking to repatriate the items back to China; he claimed that he would not pay for them.
On the first day of the sale, Henri Matisse
's painting Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose broke the previous world record
set in 2007 for a Matisse work and sold for 32 million euros. The record-breaking sale realized 342.5 million euros (£307 million).
The subsequent auction, November 17–20, included 1,185 items from the couple's Normandy villa, was not as impressive as the first auction, and featured the designer's last Mercedes-Benz automobile and his Hermès luggage.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
fashion designer, one of the greatest names in fashion history. In 1985, Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear or prêt-à-porter is the term for factory-made clothing, sold in finished condition, in standardized sizes, as distinct from made to measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. Off-the-peg is sometimes used for items which are not clothing.Ready-to-wear has...
reputable." He is also credited with having introduced the tuxedo
Black tie
Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...
suit for women, became the first designer to use ethnic models in his runway shows, and referenced other non-European cultures in his work.
A trilogy of documentaries have been made about Saint Laurent's life: David Teboul's "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" (2002), "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris" (2002), and Pierre Thoretton's "L'Amour Fou
L'Amour fou
L'amour fou is a 1969 movie directed by Jacques Rivette.L'amour fou follows the dissolution of the marriage between Claire, an actress , and Sebastien, her director . It is black and white with two different film gauges employed at different times throughout the film...
" (2009).
Early life and education
Yves Saint Laurent was born in OranOran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
, then lived in French Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
; he left for Paris after secondary school to pursue a fashion career and at 17 was hired as couturier Christian Dior
Christian Dior
Christian Dior , was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior.-Life:...
's assistant. When Dior died four years later, he was named head of the House of Dior. In 1961, Saint Laurent opened his own fashion house and quickly emerged as one of the world's most influential and spectacular designers.
Young designer
In 1953, Saint Laurent submitted three sketches to a contest for young fashion designers, organized by the International Wool Secretariat. He won third place and was invited to attend the awards ceremony in Paris in Decembers of that year. While he and his mother were in Paris, they met Michel de Brunhoff, editor-in-chief of the French edition of VogueVogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
magazine. De Brunhoff, a considerate person known for encouraging new talent, was impressed by the sketches Saint Laurent brought with him and suggested he become a fashion designer. Saint Laurent would eventually consider a course of study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture
Fédération française de la couture
The Fédération française de la couture, du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode is the French fashion industry governing clothing. The Federation was created in 1973, growing out of an older trade union , the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne which was created in...
, the council which regulates the haute couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
industry and provides training to its employees. Saint Laurent followed his advice and, leaving Oran for Paris after graduation, began his studies there and eventually graduated as a star pupil. Later that same year, he entered the International Wool Secretariat competition again and won, beating out his friend Fernando Sánchez
Fernando Sanchez
Fernando Sánchez was a Spanish fashion designer. He was known for his provocative lingerie collections, which, though designed for elegant boudoirs, were often worn in public. Sanchez was awarded several Coty fashion awards, as well as a Council of Fashion Designers of America Award in...
and young German student Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
. Shortly after his win, he brought a number of sketches to de Brunhoff who recognized close similarities to sketches he had been shown that morning by Christian Dior. Knowing that Dior had created the sketches that morning and that the young man could not have seen them, de Brunhoff sent him to Dior, who hired him on the spot.
Although Dior recognized his talent immediately, Saint Laurent spent his first year at the House of Dior on mundane tasks, such as decorating the studio and designing accessories. Eventually, however, he was allowed to submit sketches for the couture collection; with every passing season, more of his sketches were accepted by Dior. In August 1957, Dior met with Saint Laurent's mother to tell her that he had chosen Saint Laurent to succeed him as designer. His mother later said that she had been confused by the remark, as Dior was only 52 years old at the time. Both she and her son were surprised when in October of that year Dior died at a health spa in northern Italy of a massive heart attack.
Saint Laurent found himself at age 21 the head designer of the House of Dior. His spring 1958 collection almost certainly saved the enterprise from financial ruin; the straight line of his creations, a softer version of Dior's New Look, catapulted him to international stardom with what would later be known as the "trapeze dress." Others included in the collection were dresses with a narrow shoulder and flared gently at the bottom. At this time he shortened his surname to Saint Laurent because the international press found his hyphenated triple name difficult to spell.
His fall 1958 collection was not greeted with the same level of approval as his first collection, and later collections for the House of Dior featuring hobble skirt
Hobble skirt
A hobble skirt is a skirt with a narrow enough hem to significantly impede the wearer's stride, thus earning its name. A knee-long corset is also used to achieve this effect...
s and beatnik
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
fashions were savaged by the press. In 1960, Saint Laurent found himself conscripted to serve in the French Army
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
during the Algerian War of Independence. Alice Rawsthorn writes that there was speculation at the time that Marcel Boussac
Marcel Boussac
Marcel Boussac was a French entrepreneur best known for his ownership of the Maison Dior and one of the most successful thoroughbred race horse breeding farms in European history....
, the owner of the House of Dior and a powerful press baron, had put pressure on the government not to conscript Saint Laurent in 1958 and 1959 but reversed course and asked that the designer be conscripted after the disastrous 1960 season so that he could be replaced.
Conscription, illness, and independence
Saint Laurent lasted 20 days in the military before the stress of hazingHazing
Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group....
by fellow soldiers resulted in his being sent to a military hospital, where he received news that he had been fired by Dior. This merely added fuel to the fire, and he ended up in Val-de-Grâce
Val-de-Grâce
This article describes the hospital and former abbey. For the main article on Mansart and Lemercier's central church, see Church of the Val-de-Grâce....
, a French military hospital
Military hospital
Military hospital is a hospital, which is generally located on a military base and is reserved for the use of military personnel, their dependents or other authorized users....
, where he was given large doses of sedatives and other psychoactive drugs and subjected to electroshock therapy. Saint Laurent himself traced the history of both his mental problems and his drug addictions to this time in hospital.
After his release from the hospital in November 1960, Saint Laurent sued Dior for breach of contract and won. After a period of convalescence, he and his partner
Significant other
Significant other is colloquially used as a gender-blind term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation, as it is vague enough to avoid offense by using a term that an individual...
, industrialist Pierre Bergé
Pierre Bergé
Pierre Bergé is a French industrialist and patron. He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and former partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.-Early life:...
, started their own fashion house with funds from Atlanta millionaire J. Mack Robinson
J. Mack Robinson
J. Mack Robinson is a Georgia businessman. He has led several of Atlanta's major corporations. Robinson is also a notable philanthropist, having donated millions of dollars to his home state.- Early career :...
. The couple split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners.
During the 1960s and '70s, the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
look; safari jackets for men and women; tight pants; tall, thigh-high boots; and arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, the Le Smoking
Le Smoking
Created in 1966 by famous couturier Yves Saint Laurent, the Le Smoking tuxedo suit for women was the first of its kind to earn attention in the fashion world and in popular culture. It pioneered long, minimalist, androgynous styles for women, as well as the use of power suits and the pantsuit in...
. He also started mainstreaming the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s.
He was the first French couturier to come out with a full prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) line, although Alicia Drake
Alicia Drake
Alicia Drake , is a British fashion journalist and author.-Background:Alicia Drake was educated at Cambridge University.She has lived and worked in Paris for the last 10 years.-Publishing:...
credits this move with Saint Laurent's wish to democratize fashion, others point out that other couture houses were preparing prêt-à-porter lines at the same time; the House of Yves Saint Laurent merely announced its line first. The first of the company's Rive Gauche stores, which sold the prêt-à-porter line, opened on the rue de Tournon in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, on 26 September 1966. The premier was attended by Yves Saint Laurent, and the first customer was Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
.
Saint Laurent was also the first designer to use ethnic models in his runway shows and to reference other than European cultures in his work.
Many of his collections were received rapturously by both his fans and the press, such as the fall 1965 collection, which introduced Le Smoking tailored tuxedo suit. Other collections raised great controversy, such as his spring 1971 collection, which was inspired by 1940s fashion. Some felt it romanticized the German occupation of France during World War II, which he personally did not experience, while others felt it brought back the unattractive utilitarianism of the time. The French newspaper France Soir called the spring 1971 collection "Une grande farce!"
During the 1960s and '70s, Saint Laurent was considered one of Paris's "jet set
Jet set
"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating all around the world in social activities that are unreachable to ordinary people...
." He was often seen at clubs in France and New York, such as Regine's and Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
, and was known to be both a heavy drinker and a frequent user of cocaine. When he was not actively supervising the preparation of a collection, he spent time at his villa in Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
, Morocco. In the late 1970s, he and Bergé bought a neo-gothic villa, Château Gabriel in Benerville-sur-Mer
Benerville-sur-Mer
Benerville-sur-Mer is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
, near Deauville
Deauville
Deauville is a commune in the Calvados département in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.With its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and...
, France. Yves Saint Laurent was a great admirer of Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust
Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu...
who had been a frequent guest of Gaston Gallimard
Gaston Gallimard
Gaston Gallimard was a French publisher.He founded La Nouvelle Revue Française in 1908, together with André Gide and Jean Schlumberger....
, one of the previous owners of the villa. When they bought Château Gabriel, Saint Laurent and Bergé commissioned Jacques Grange
Jacques Grange
-Biography :After completing his training at the École Boulle and the École Camondo, Jacques Grange made a career as a decorator in France and abroad from the 1970s. His main customers included Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, for whom he decorated the "Château Gabriel", in Benerville-sur-Mer,...
to decorate it with themes inspired by Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
The prêt-à-porter line became extremely popular with the public if not with the critics and eventually earned many times more for Saint Laurent and Bergé than the haute couture line. However, Saint Laurent, whose health had been precarious for years, became erratic under the pressure of designing two haute couture and two prêt-à-porter collections every year and turned more and more to alcohol and drugs. At some shows, he could barely walk down the runway at the end of the show, and he had to be supported by models.
After a disastrous 1987 prêt-à-porter show in New York City, which featured $100,000 jeweled casual jackets only days after the "Black Monday" stock market crash
Black Monday (1987)
In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin...
, he turned over the responsibility of the prêt-à-porter line to his assistants. Although the line remained popular with his fans, it was soon dismissed as "boring" by the press.
Later life and death
In 1983, Saint Laurent became the first living fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
with a solo exhibition. In 2001, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Légion d'Honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
by French president Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
. He retired in 2002 and became increasingly reclusive, living at his homes in Normandy and Morocco with his pet French Bulldog
French Bulldog
The French bulldog is a small breed of domestic dog, related to the English bulldog and American bulldog.-History:The origin of the modern French Bulldog breed descends directly from the dogs of the Molossians, an ancient Greek tribe. The dogs were spread throughout the ancient world by Phoenician...
Moujik.
He also created a foundation with Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.
A favorite among his female clientele, Saint Laurent had numerous muses that inspired his work. Chief among these was Mounia-his oft used "bride" and 'Porgy and Bess' thematic Couture-garment model and frequent YSL cover-model in Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily is a fashion-industry trade journal sometimes called "the bible of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers,...
and French Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, Somali
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
supermodel Iman
Iman (model)
Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid , professionally known as Iman , is a Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A pioneer in the field of ethnic cosmetics, she is also noted for her charitable work. She is married to David Bowie.-Early life:Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, Iman is the daughter...
, whom he once described as his "dream woman." Other muses included Loulou de la Falaise
Loulou de la Falaise
Loulou de La Falaise was a fashion muse and designer of fashion, accessories, and jewelry associated with Yves Saint-Laurent. Author Judith Thurman, writing in The New Yorker magazine, called La Falaise "the quintessential Rive Gauche haute bohémienne"....
, the daughter of a French marquis and an Anglo-Irish fashion model; Betty Catroux
Betty Catroux
Betty Catroux is a former Chanel model and fashion icon who has been cited as a muse by both Yves Saint Laurent and Tom Ford. Saint Laurent has called her his twin sister and referred to her as his female incarnation...
, the half-Brazilian daughter of an American diplomat and wife of a French decorator; Talitha Pol-Getty
Talitha Getty
Talitha Getty was an actress of Dutch extraction, born in the former Dutch East Indies, who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh...
; French actress Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...
; Nicole Dorier, a YSL top model in 1978–83, who became one of his assistants in organizing his runway shows and, later, the "memory" of his house when it became a museum; Guinean-born Senegalese supermodel Katoucha Niane
Katoucha Niane
Katoucha Niane was a French model. Nicknamed "The Peul Princess" , she worked, and later wrote, under the single name "Katoucha"...
; supermodel Laetitia Casta
Laetitia Casta
Laetitia Marie Laure Casta is a French model and actress.-Early life:Laetitia Casta was born in Pont-Audemer, Normandy, France. Her mother, Line Blin, is from Normandy. Her father, Dominique Casta, is from Corsica. She has an older brother, Jean-Baptiste, and a younger sister, Marie-Ange...
, who was the bride in his shows in 1997–2002.
In 2007, he was awarded the rank of Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
by French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
.
He died June 1, 2008 of brain cancer at his residence in Paris. According to The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, a few days before he died, Saint Laurent and Bergé were joined in a same-sex civil union
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
known as a Pacte civil de solidarité
Pacte civil de solidarité
In France, a pacte civil de solidarité commonly known as a PACS /paks/ , is a form of civil union between two adults for organising their joint life. It brings rights and responsibilities, but less so than marriage...
(PACS) in France. He was survived by his mother and sisters; his father had died in 1988.
He was given a Catholic funeral at St. Roch Catholic Church in Paris. Yves' body was cremated and his ashes scattered in Marrakech
Marrakech
Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history...
, Morocco, in the Majorelle Garden
Majorelle Garden
The Majorelle Garden is a twelve-acre botanical garden and artist's landscape garden in Marrakech, Morocco. It was designed by the expatriate French artist Jacques Majorelle in the 1920s and 1930s, during the colonial period when Morocco was a protectorate of France.-History:Majorelle was the son...
, a botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
that he often visited to find inspiration and refuge. Bergé said at the funeral service: “But I also know that I will never forget what I owe you and that one day I will join you under the Moroccan palms” (translated from French).
The funeral attendants included Empress Farah Pahlavi, Madame Chirac, and President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife at the time. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
rated Saint Laurent the top-earning dead celebrity in 2009.
Sale of art collection
In February 2009, an auction of 733 items was held by Christie'sChristie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
at the Grand Palais
Grand Palais
This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish Wikipedia.The Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, commonly known as the Grand Palais , is a large historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, ranging from paintings by Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
to ancient Egyptian sculptures. Saint Laurent and Bergé began collecting art in the 1950s. Before the sale, Bergé commented that the decision to sell the collection was taken because, without Saint Laurent, "it has lost the greater part of its significance," with the proceeds proposed for the creation of a new foundation for AIDS research.
Before the sale commenced, the Chinese government tried to stop the sale of two 18th-century bronze Chinese zodiac sculptures, which had been stolen from the Old Summer Palace
Old Summer Palace
The Old Summer Palace, known in China as Yuan Ming Yuan , and originally called the Imperial Gardens, was a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing...
by the French and British Forces, during invasion of China
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War, the Second Anglo-Chinese War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire against the Qing Dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860...
, in 1860. A French judge dismissed the claim. The sculptures — a rabbit's head and a rat's head – both sold for €15,745,000 ($20,117,073), but it later became known that the bid had been placed by Cai Mingchao, a representative of China's National Treasures Fund, which was seeking to repatriate the items back to China; he claimed that he would not pay for them.
On the first day of the sale, Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
's painting Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose broke the previous world record
World record
A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...
set in 2007 for a Matisse work and sold for 32 million euros. The record-breaking sale realized 342.5 million euros (£307 million).
The subsequent auction, November 17–20, included 1,185 items from the couple's Normandy villa, was not as impressive as the first auction, and featured the designer's last Mercedes-Benz automobile and his Hermès luggage.
External links
- ysl.com, official Yves Saint Laurent (brand)Yves Saint Laurent (brand)Yves Saint Laurent or YSL is a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. Today, its chief designer is Stefano Pilati. Yves Saint Laurent, founder of the brand, died in 2008.-History:...
website - The Guardian: retrospective article