Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent (born August 1, 1936) is a French fashion designer who died in May 2008 at the age of 71. He is credited with reinventing women's fashion and making pantsuits popular.
The son of an insurance-company manager Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born on the 1st of August 1936 in Oran, Algeria. Saint Laurent left home at the age of 17 to work for the French designer Christian Dior. Following Dior's death in 1957, Yves at the age of 21 was put in charge of the effort of saving the Dior house from financial ruin.
Shortly after this success he was conscripted to serve in the French army during the Algerian war of independence. After 20 days the stress of being hazed by fellow soldiers led the fragile Saint Laurent to be institutionalized in a French mental hospital, where he underwent psychiatric treatment, including electroshock therapy, for a nervous breakdown.
In 1962, in the wake of his nervous breakdown, Saint Laurent was released from Dior and started his own label, YSL, financed by his lover, Pierre Bergé. (The couple split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners.) During the 1960s and 1970s the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik look, tweed suits, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots, including the creation of arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, Le Smoking suit. He is the first, in 1966, to popularize ready-to-wear in an attempt to democratize fashion, with Rive Gauche and the boutique of the same name. He is also the first designer to use black models in his runway shows. Among his muses were 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, who died of drug overdose in 1971, and Catherine Deneuve, the iconic French actress. Ambassador to the couturier during the late 1970s and early 80s was London socialite millionairess Diane Boulting-Casserley Vandelli, making the brand ever more popular amongst the European jet-set and upper classes. He was also inspired by his love of the writer Proust and Mademoiselle Chanel.
In 1983, he became the first living fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 1993, the Saint-Laurent fashion house was sold to the pharmaceuticals company Sanofi for approximately $600,000,000. In 1999, Gucci bought the YSL brand and Tom Ford designed the ready-to-wear collection while Saint-Laurent designed the haute couture collection. Since his retirement in 1998 Saint-Laurent has become increasingly reclusive and has spent a much of his time at his house in Marrakech, Morocco.
In 2001 he was awarded the rank of Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur by French president Jaques Chirac.
The following year, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, and problems with lead designer Tom Ford, Saint-Laurent and Gucci closed the illustrious couture house of YSL. While the house no longer exists, the brand still survives through its parent company Gucci. He also created a museum with his friend Pierre Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.
The prêt-à-porter line is still being produced under the direction of Stefano Pilati after Tom Ford retired in 2004, while the boxer briefs sold all over the world still carry the brand name.
He died in May 2008 at the age of 71.
Source: Wikipedia
Shortly after this success he was conscripted to serve in the French army during the Algerian war of independence. After 20 days the stress of being hazed by fellow soldiers led the fragile Saint Laurent to be institutionalized in a French mental hospital, where he underwent psychiatric treatment, including electroshock therapy, for a nervous breakdown.
In 1962, in the wake of his nervous breakdown, Saint Laurent was released from Dior and started his own label, YSL, financed by his lover, Pierre Bergé. (The couple split romantically in 1976 but remained business partners.) During the 1960s and 1970s the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik look, tweed suits, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots, including the creation of arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, Le Smoking suit. He is the first, in 1966, to popularize ready-to-wear in an attempt to democratize fashion, with Rive Gauche and the boutique of the same name. He is also the first designer to use black models in his runway shows. Among his muses were 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, who died of drug overdose in 1971, and Catherine Deneuve, the iconic French actress. Ambassador to the couturier during the late 1970s and early 80s was London socialite millionairess Diane Boulting-Casserley Vandelli, making the brand ever more popular amongst the European jet-set and upper classes. He was also inspired by his love of the writer Proust and Mademoiselle Chanel.
In 1993, the Saint-Laurent fashion house was sold to the pharmaceuticals company Sanofi for approximately $600,000,000. In 1999, Gucci bought the YSL brand and Tom Ford designed the ready-to-wear collection while Saint-Laurent designed the haute couture collection. Since his retirement in 1998 Saint-Laurent has become increasingly reclusive and has spent a much of his time at his house in Marrakech, Morocco.
In 2001 he was awarded the rank of Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur by French president Jaques Chirac.
The following year, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, and problems with lead designer Tom Ford, Saint-Laurent and Gucci closed the illustrious couture house of YSL. While the house no longer exists, the brand still survives through its parent company Gucci. He also created a museum with his friend Pierre Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.
He died in May 2008 at the age of 71.
Source: Wikipedia
Collection Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé Part II Achieves $ 13449358Art DailyThe four-day sale of the Collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, part II, at Theatre Marigny offered by Christie's in association with Pierre ...
From news.google.com
()
- Tom Ford Hates Yves Saint Laurent, and the Word Marriage (towleroad.com)
stv.tvParis auction of designer Yves Saint Laurent's belongings, artistic and ...The Canadian PressPARIS — A four-day-long auction of late French designer Yves Saint Laurent's ravishing artwork and the everyday objects that packed his residences wraps up ...YSL auction raises almost three times estimateReuters$13.4 Million Saint Laurent Auction Beats EstimateBloombergAuction record for umbrella stand as YSL mystique inflates...
From news.google.com
()
- Yves Saint Laurent: Sale of the Century (coolhunting.com)
- Yves Saint Laurent's final sale (story.chicagochronicle.com)
A four-day auction of late French designer Yves Saint Laurent's ravishing artwork and the everyday objects that packed his residences has fetched €8.99 million ($NZ18.74 million), Christie's auction house said on Friday.
From stuff.co.nz
()
- Strong Asia presence at Saint Laurent auction (france24.com)
- Yves Saint Laurent auction: items from Normandy hideaway up for sale (telegraph.co.uk)
- Arts and Antiques: Saint Laurent Auction Rich in Sentimental Value (story.chicagochronicle.com)
stv.tvYSL auction raises almost three times estimateReutersPARIS (Reuters) - A second auction of art and furniture once owned by fashion guru Yves Saint Laurent has raised 8.9 million euros ($13.22 million), ...$13.4 Million Saint Laurent Auction Beats EstimateBloombergStrong Asia presence at Saint Laurent auctionAFPYSL/Bergé Auction Fetches Double Its EstimateARTINFOThe Canadian Pressall 48 news articles »
More perspectives...
From news.google.com
()
Monsieur Saint Laurent died in 2008 and the last vestiges of his personal villa and artwork are being auctioned off in Paris this week. But the fashion designer's extensive legacy lives on (le smoking, urban safari, etc.), as does the perfume empire he created. The latest in the company's portfolio is Yves Saint Laurent Parisienne ($74 for eau de parfum). The bottle is faceted, the juice inside, "pink as the sky of a pale early morning" in...
From feedburner.com
()
- Kate Moss “Parisienne” vs. Lucy Lawless “Bitch Slap” (tinynibbles.com)
London, Nov 19 (ANI): The auctioning of items belonging to late Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge is said to have so far fetched four million euros with two more days left for the sale.
Auction house Christie’s had estimated the total value of the auction to be between three to four million euros, but the [...]
From thaindian.com
()
- YSL auction raises four million euros (telegraph.co.uk)
A humble if eye-pleasing umbrella stand once owned by Yves Saint Laurent fetched an amazing 90,000 euros (134,000 dollars) Friday at the close of a sale of the last belongings of the late couturier and his partner Pierre Berge."I think we've beaten a world record for an umbrella stand," Christie's auctioneer Lionel Gosset laughed as he brought down the hammer on the green enamelled earthenware stand.
More perspectives...
From france24.com
()



