August 1, 1936 - June 1, 2008
Yves Saint Laurent, who exploded on the fashion scene in 1958 as the boy-wonder successor to Christian Dior and endured as one of the best-known and most influential couturiers of the second half of the 20th century, died on June 1 in Paris. He was 71.
The fashion career of Yves Saint Laurent was highlighted by a central paradox. The designer who arguably did more to advance fashion than any other of his generation pointed the way to the future by consistently reviving the past. His enduring fascination with more gracious or, perhaps, more vital times, informed his refined, theatrical aesthetic and made him the most influential designer of his day. His celebrated fashions of the ’60s and the ’70s continue to inspire younger generations.
Saint Laurent achieved his greatest triumphs in the midst of a notoriously turbulent emotional life, giving him mythical stature in his own time. Born Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent in Oran, Algeria, he seemed intent on burnishing that myth from an early age. Precociously, he entered a design contest while still in his teens and won the attention of Christian Dior, who eventually tapped him to take over his legendary fashion house. In 1958, shortly after Dior's death, Saint Laurent, then 21, was credited with saving the moribund house of Dior with his Trapeze line, displaying a daring that would flourish through much of his career. The beat-inspired biker jackets and turtleneck sweaters of his next, and last, collection for Dior were widely disparaged yet sealed his reputation as a designer who elevated the look of the streets to haute couture.
In 1962, he opened his own fashion house, and during the next decades designed androgynous looks like his safari jacket with tight pants and thigh-high boots and, most memorably, Le Smoking, the classic tuxedo suit for women.
Throughout his career, Saint Laurent was visibly indebted to the work of mid-20th-century painters including Braque, Picasso and Mondrian and the flamboyant fashions of earlier eras. He reinterpreted the belle époque, the ’30s and ’40s, incensing critics in 1971 by unveiling his ’40s-inflected square-shouldered silhouette, which became a dominant look of the decade. His interpretation of the pantsuit has been credited with revolutionizing the way women dress.
“Chanel gave liberation of the body to women,” said Pierre Bergé, his onetime companion and lifetime business partner, “and Saint Laurent gave power to women with the men’s clothes.”
In 1966, Saint Laurent introduced Rive Gauche, a ready-to-wear collection, and a boutique of the same name. He was the first designer to use black models in his runway shows.
He was embraced by the haute monde; his clients and muses included aristocratic young women like Loulou de la Falaise and Parisian social pillars like Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, and the iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve. In 1983 he became the first living fashion designer to be honored with a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Saint Laurent’s career was famously marred by repeated episodes of substance abuse that injured his health. By the ’90s, his designs were often little more than reprises of his greatest hits. In 1998, he sold his ready-to-wear house to Gucci Group, leaving him and Mr. Bergé with only the couture. With Mr. Bergé, he created a foundation in Paris to commemorate the history of the house of YSL, an archive of 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing. He retired in 2002 and had become increasingly reclusive, spending much of his time at his house in Marrakech, in Morocco.
www.nytimes.com
