The Death of a Fashion Icon — YSL
French Designer Yves Saint Laurent — the Pied Piper of Fashion
Jun 1, 2008
Hailed as the Piped Piper of fashion by legendary magazine editor, Diana Vreeland, Yves Saint Laurent is considered to be the last in a line of fashion icons (including Dior and Chanel) who made France the capital of the fashion world. "Whatever he does," said Vreeland, "women of all ages, from all over the world, follow.
According to the New York Times Obituary of 1st June 2008, Saint Laurent was largely responsible for changing the way modern women dressed. In the fickle, fast-changing world of fashion, Saint Laurent was hailed as the most influential and enduring designer of his time, empowering women and believing that fashion was also about creating confidence, as well as wanting to look beautiful.
Yves Saint Laurent's Revolutionary Designs
His controversial designs changed the face of women’s fashion when in the 1960s he dared to dress women in masculine tuxedos, which he referred to as “le smoking jacket.” Consequently this led to women of the time being barred from some restaurants, clubs and hotels in New York and London, due to their man-like dressing.
His famed adapted Peacoat, the double-breasted trench, won popularity the world over, and his “Trapeze” dresses gave women a chance to breath again, with their narrow shoulders falling gently into wider waists and hemlines, so named due to their similarity in shape to a circus trapeze. His cuts were elegant and tailored, and his famous phrase "fashion fades but style is eternal," is a testimony to his timeless designs.
His designs are responsible for much of what everyday women wear, for work and play, including the leather biker jacket, blazer and cape, and the turtleneck, short skirt and trousersuit.
The Life of Yves Saint Laurent
In his final years he became a recluse. During his long career he suffered bouts of depression and loneliness, and on his retirement referred to “the prison of depression and hospitals,” but announced ,"I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."
In 1999, Saint Laurent sold his ready-to-wear label to the Gucci Group, who also took control of the Rive Gauche collection of perfumes, cosmetics and accessories. Differences between Saint Laurent and, Gucci’s creative director Tom Ford were rumored, by the industry, to have influenced Saint Laurent’s later retirement, as Ford favored more racy, overtly sexy designs.
The designer retired from the fashion industry in 2002, at the age of 65, and closed his Paris couture fashion house, which he founded in the 1960s.
The YSL Label
Today the label continues under the helm of the Gucci, Group, with one of Saint Laurent’s former assistants, Stefano Pilati. The label keeps going from strength to strength, with Kate Moss as the current face of YSL fashions, and Naomi Campbell confirmed as her successor, in a contract worth £200,000, according to the Daily Mail’s 1st June 2008 updated article, “I’m blessed and grateful to be back at YSL.” The supermodel’s last appearance for YSL at the designer’s final YSL show in January 2002, Saint-Laurent’s final swan-song.
Above all, Yves Saint Laurent will be remembered by many women for making high fashion more accessible to the high street, with his ready-to-wear collections and his classic tailoring. Former lover, friend and business partner, Bergé said that Saint Laurent's gift to fashion was that he empowered women after Chanel had freed them.
According to the International Herald Tribune,June 2 2008, "Yves Saint Laurent, fashion icon, dies at 71," some of the many famous and stylish women who wore his clothes were, were Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso and Lauren Bacall, and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild. Princes Grace of Monaco was another ardent admirer, according to the BBC's "Obituary: Yves Saint Laurent" of 1st June 2008.
In the book, Couture: The Great Fashion Designers (Thames & Hudson 1985, 1991), author Caroline Rennolds Milbank hails Saint-Laurent as "the most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past 25 years.” His heritage will remain with the world of fashion long after his death as, according to the Internatonal Herald Tribune, many of his early designs have seeped into the public domain.
Image courtesy of PR Photos
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