Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent

   

    Yves Saint Laurent was a French fashion designer, one of the prominent names in French fashion in the 20th century. He is also known for introducing the tuxedo suit for women. Yves has been credited for being the first designer to use ethnic models in his fashion shows, and taking aspects of designs form other cultures in his work.

       Yves Saint Laurent was born on Aug. 1, 1936, Oran, Algeria. He is an Algerian-born French fashion designer. He left for Paris after secondary school to pursue a fashion career and at 17 was hired as Christian Dior's assistant. When Dior died four years later, he was named head of the House of Dior. In 1962 he opened his own fashion house and instantly become known as one of the world's most powerful designers. He is most famous for the trousers for women for both city and country wear. Metallic and transparent fabrics were high-flying in his late '60s collections; in the 1970s, inspired by ethnic costume, he introduced the haute peasant look. During the 1960s and '70s his business expanded to include ready-to-wear licenses, accessories, household linens, fragrances, and men's clothes in addition to his couture business. Yves Saint Laurent retired in 2002, Saint Laurent spent much of his time at his house in Marrakech, Morocco and at the age of 71, he died from brain cancer in June 2008 on a trip back to his hometown Paris.

      I don’t know what it is that makes Yves an icon but I know for fact that whenever I think of who inspires me, his name appears in my thoughts. Although Yves’s life wasn’t recorded descriptively, he still managed to wow the minds of many, including those who never lived to see him. Fifty decades later and Yves Saint Laurent still manages to be one of the most remembered icons for his work of art. What first started out as a fashion name lives today as a fashion legend. 

 “Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.” –Yves Saint Laurent

“I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes.” –Yves Saint Laurent

“Fashions fade, style is eternal.” –Yves Saint Laurent