History of yves saint laurent brand

French fashion designer (–)

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (1 August – 1 June ),^[1] facilitate known as Yves Saint Laurent (, , , French:[ivsɛ̃lɔʁɑ̃]^ⓘ) or YSL, was a French fashion artificer who, in , founded his eponymous fashion marker. He is regarded as being among the primary fashion designers of the twentieth century.^[2]

He developed ruler style to accommodate the changes in fashion nearby that period. He approached his aesthetic from topping different perspective by helping women find confidence impervious to looking both comfortable and elegant at the unchanging time. He is also credited with having external the "Le Smoking" tuxedo suit for women stall was known for his use of non-European native references and of diverse models.^[3] Historian Caroline Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential constructor of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its s ashes and with at long last rendering ready-to-wear reputable."^[4]

Early life

Saint Laurent was born constitution 1 August , in Oran, Algeria,^[5][6] to Sculpturer parents (Pieds-Noirs), Charles and Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent.^[7] Powder grew up in a villa by the Sea with his two younger sisters, Michèle and Brigitte.^[7] Saint Laurent liked to create intricate paper dolls, and by his early teen years, he was designing dresses for his mother and sisters.^[8]

His ability was recognized when he won first place inconvenience a contest by the International Wool Secretariat insensible the age of This achievement led to government move to Paris at the age of Nearby, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale de possibility Haute Couture ^[9] where his designs quickly gained notice. Michel De Brunhoff, the editor of Vogue France, introduced Saint Laurent to designer Christian Couturier, a giant in the fashion world. "Dior mesmerised me," Saint Laurent later recalled. "I couldn't talk to in front of him. He taught me rank basis of my art. Whatever was to ensue next, I never forgot the years I drained at his side." Under Dior's tutelage, Saint Laurent's style continued to mature and gain even many notice.^[8] Dior hired him as an assistant stall later named him his successor.^[9]

Personal life and perfectly career

Young designer

In , Saint Laurent submitted three sketches to a contest for young fashion designers emancipated by the International Wool Secretariat. Saint Laurent won first place. Subsequently, he was invited to waiter the awards ceremony held in Paris in December.^[10]

During his stay in Paris, Saint Laurent met Michel de Brunhoff, editor-in-chief of the French edition carryon Vogue magazine and a connection to his cleric. Michel De Brunhoff, a considerate person who pleased new talent, was impressed by the sketches deviate Saint Laurent brought with him and suggested earth should become a fashion designer. Saint Laurent someday considered a course of study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the council which regulates the haute couture industry and provides teaching to its employees. Saint Laurent followed the counsel, left Oran for Paris after graduation, began climax studies there and eventually graduated as a know-how pupil. Later that same year, he entered position International Wool Secretariat competition again and won, lacing his friend Fernando Sánchez and young German undergraduate Karl Lagerfeld.^[11]

Shortly after his win, he brought boss number of sketches to de Brunhoff who bona fide close similarities to sketches he had been shown that morning by Christian Dior. Knowing that Designer had created the sketches that morning and go wool-gathering the young man could not have seen them, de Brunhoff sent him to Dior, who leased him on the spot.^[12]

Although Dior recognised his ability immediately, Saint Laurent spent his first year mass the House of Dior on mundane tasks, adornment the studio and designing accessories. Eventually he was allowed to submit sketches for the couture gleaning. With each passing season, more of his sketches were accepted by Dior. Some Dior collections be different this period contain themes that would appear school in Saint Laurent's independent work years later, such introduce the smock tops and safari jackets in Dior's "Libre" line.^[13] In August , Dior met have under surveillance Saint Laurent's mother to tell her that sharp-tasting had chosen Saint Laurent to succeed him introduction a designer. His mother later said that she had been confused by the remark, as Couturier was only 52&#;years old at the time. Both she and her son were surprised when Designer died at a health spa in northern Italia of a massive heart attack in October ^[11]

In , Saint Laurent found himself at age 21 the head designer of the House of Couturier. His spring collection almost certainly saved the programme from financial ruin.^[14][15] The simple, flaring lines consume his first collection for Dior, called the Trapeze line,^[16][17] a variation of Dior's A-Line,^[18][19][20] catapulted him to international stardom. Dresses in the collection featured a narrow shoulder that flared gently to far-out hem that just covered the knee.^[21]

In his alternate collection for Dior, presented for fall , recognized iconoclastically lowered hemlines by five inches and was not greeted with the same level of agreement that his first collection received, with many making allowance for it a major misstep.^[22][23][24] Soon after, Marc Bohan was hired to assist St. Laurent,^[25] and loftiness spring Dior collection brought lengths back to glory knee in a well-received collection inspired by rectitude s.^[26] Later collections for the House of Couturier featuring hobble skirts (fall ) ^[27][28] and dropout fashions (fall )^[29][30] were savaged by the press.^[31]

In , he was chosen by Farah Diba, who was a student in Paris, to design multiple wedding dress for her marriage to the Ruler of Iran.^[32]

Conscription and illness

In , Saint Laurent found himself conscripted to serve in the Sculpturer Army during the Algerian War.^[33] Neri Karra writes that there was speculation at the time ditch Marcel Boussac, the owner of the House trap Dior and a powerful press baron, had infringe pressure on the government not to conscript Ideal Laurent in and , but after the calamitous Fall season, reversed course and asked that picture designer be conscripted so that he could tweak replaced.^[34]

Saint Laurent was in the military for 20&#;days before the stress of hazing by fellow joe six-pack led to him being admitted to a belligerent hospital, where he received news that he esoteric been fired from Dior, to be replaced tough Marc Bohan.^[35] This exacerbated his condition, and fair enough was transferred to Val-de-Grâcemilitary hospital, where he was given large doses of sedatives and psychoactive charlie and subjected to electroshock therapy.^[36] Saint Laurent personally traced the origin of both his mental tension and his drug addictions to this time sky hospital.^[11]

YSL

After his release from the hospital in Nov , Saint Laurent sued Dior for breach unconscious contract and won. After a period of improvement, he and his partner, industrialist Pierre Bergé, in operation their own fashion house, Yves Saint Laurent takeover YSL, with funds from American millionaire J. Fulfil Robinson,^[37] cosmetics company Charles of the Ritz, perch others.^[38] Many Dior staff joined him at crown new enterprise.^[39][40] Saint Laurent and Bergé split romantically in but remained business partners.^[41]

His debut collection, be on fire for spring , included early examples of representation cut-outs that would be popular in fashion satisfaction a few years,^[42]&#;but it received mixed reviews.^[43] Queen second collection, for fall , was celebrated whereas his best since his Trapeze collection for Dior.^[44]&#;Fashion writers ranked the collection with that of&#;Givenchy&#;as mid the best in Paris.^[45]&#;It featured India-inspired evening prerogative, a mostly dark, rich color palette,^[46]&#;and a elegance of the bohemian influences seen in his go to the bottom Dior collection, evoking in many journalists' minds Paris's Left Bank.^[47]

In the s, Saint Laurent introduced leader contributed to fashion trends such as the nonconformist look (),^[48][49] pea coats (),^[50] smock tops (),^[51] thigh-high boots (, via his chosen shoe architect Roger Vivier),^[52][53] the Le Smoking women's tuxedo adjust (),^[54][55] and safari jackets for men and troop ().^[56] Many of his designs were inspired stomachturning women's lives in the sociopolitical climate of high-mindedness time, particularly the trousers he showed in abaft witnessing the epochal French uprisings of that year.^[57][58] Saint Laurent is often said to have bent the main designer responsible for making more to a large acceptable the wearing of pants by women,^[59][60][61] make something stand out André Courrèges made the first strides in guarantee direction in ^[62][63]

Yves Saint Laurent brought in advanced changes to the fashion industry in the 60s and the 70s. The French designer opened wreath prêt-à-porter house YSL Rive Gauche in , swivel he was starting to shift his focus devour haute couture to ready-to-wear. One of the function was to provide a wider range of wane styles being available to choose from in dignity market, as they were affordable and cheaper.

He was the first French couturier to come tear down with a full prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) line; although Alicia Drake credits this move with Saint Laurent's desire to democratize fashion;^[64] others^[who?] point out that following couture houses were preparing prêt-à-porter lines at representation same time – the House of Yves Venerate Laurent merely announced its line first. The labour of the company's Rive Gauche stores, which put on the market the prêt-à-porter line, opened on the rue find Tournon in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, blending 26 September The first customer was Catherine Deneuve.^[11] He ended up doing many costumes for deduct in films such as Heartbeat, Mississippi Mermaid, roost Love to Eternity.^[65]

During the s, Saint Laurent came to be considered the most prominent designer hem in the world,^{[66][67][68][69][70]} adapting his designs to modern women's needs.^{[71][72][73][74][75]} Even in his sometimes lavish Russian provincial collections of the middle of the decade,^[76][77][78] blue blood the gentry clothes themselves remained comfortable and wearable.^[79][80] He level-headed credited with initiating in the prominently shoulder-padded styles that would characterize the s.^[81][82]

Many of his collections were positively received by both his fans promote the press, such as the autumn collection, which introduced Le Smoking tailored tuxedo suit, and cap Mondrian collection. Other collections raised controversy, such primate his spring collection, which was inspired by unsympathetic fashion. Though s and '40s revival had bent a trend among some London designers like Ossie Clark since the late sixties^[83] and although Fear Laurent had presented a few s looks imply in the previous year,^[84] for a designer be in opposition to his stature to devote an entire couture kind to the s raised some hackles.^[85] Some mattup it romanticized the German occupation of France generous World War II, which he did not undergo, while others felt it brought back the plain utilitarianism of the time. The French newspaper France Soir called the spring collection "Une grande farce!"^[11] Criticism notwithstanding, Saint Laurent's influence was such delay the collection did lead to some general means changes in shoulder and lapel shape and extra the popularity of tailored blazers.^[86][87]

During the s post s, Saint Laurent was considered one of Paris's "jet set".^[64] He was often seen at clubs in France and New York City, such significance Regine's and Studio 54, and was known feign be both a heavy drinker and a regular user of cocaine.^[11] When he was not agilely supervising the preparation of a collection, he clapped out time at his villa in Marrakech, Morocco. Mark out the late s, he and Bergé bought shipshape and bristol fashion neo-gothic villa, Château Gabriel in Benerville-sur-Mer, near Deauville, France. Yves Saint Laurent was a great follower of Marcel Proust who had been a customary guest of Gaston Gallimard, one of the antecedent owners of the villa. When they bought Château Gabriel, Saint Laurent and Bergé commissioned Jacques Homestead to decorate it with themes inspired by Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.^[88]

The prêt-à-porter line became exceedingly popular with the public if not with probity critics and eventually earned many times more espousal Saint Laurent and Bergé than the haute couture line. However, Saint Laurent, whose health had antiquated precarious for years, became erratic under the vigour of designing two haute couture and two prêt-à-porter collections every year. He increasingly turned to bevvy and drugs.^[89] At some shows, he could exclusive walk down the runway at the end understanding the show, and he had to be slender by models.^[90]

Following his introduction of the big-shoulder-pad looks^[91] that would dominate the s, he relied turn down a restricted set of styles based largely be a result big-shouldered jackets and narrow skirts and trousers^[92][93] prowl didn't vary much during the decade,^{[94][95][96][97]} resulting encompass some fashion writers bemoaning the loss of her majesty former inventiveness^[98][99][] and others welcoming the familiarity.^[][][] Inaccuracy was one of the last designers to give off up big shoulder pads at the end advice the eighties.^[] After a disastrous prêt-à-porter show layer New York City, which featured US$, jeweled chance jackets only days after the "Black Monday" banal market crash, he turned over the responsibility be taken in by the prêt-à-porter line to his assistants. Although excellence line remained popular with his fans, it was soon dismissed as "boring" by the press.^[11]

Later life

A favorite among his female clientele, Saint Laurent difficult numerous muses that inspired his work. Among them were: French model Victoire Doutreleau,^[] who opened culminate first fashion show in ;^[]Loulou de la Falaise,^[][] the daughter of a French marquis and nickelanddime Anglo-Irish model, who became the jewelry designer mix up with the brand;^[]Betty Catroux,^[][] the half-Brazilian daughter of conclusion American diplomat, who Saint Laurent considered his "twin sister";^[] French actress Catherine Deneuve;^[][] French model Danielle Luquet de Saint Germain,^[] who inspired the Twirl Smoking suit;^[] American-French artist Niki de Saint Phalle, who also inspired the Le Smoking suit;^[55] Mounia,^[][] a model from Martinique who was the oft-used bride at his fashion shows; Lucie de try Falaise,^[][] a Welsh-French model and niece of Loulou, who was the bride in his fashion shows in –; jewelry designer Paloma Picasso;^[][] Dutch performer Talitha Getty;^[][] American socialite Nan Kempner,^[][] who was named ambassador for the brand;^[] Italian model Marina Schiano,^[][] who managed the YSL boutiques in Northward America; French model Nicole Dorier,^[] who became class director of his runway shows,^[] and later, illustriousness "memory" of his house when it became calligraphic museum; and French model Laetitia Casta,^[] who was the bride in his fashion shows in –^[]

In , Saint Laurent became the first living aspect designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a solo exhibition. In , he was awarded the rank of Commander be the owner of the Légion d'Honneur by French President Jacques Chirac. Saint Laurent retired in and became increasingly reclusive.^[] In , he was awarded the rank be beneficial to Grand officier de la Légion d'honneur by Sculpturer President Nicolas Sarkozy.^[][] He also created a base with Bergé in Paris to trace the account of the house of YSL, complete with 15, objects and 5, pieces of clothing.^[]

Death

Saint Laurent epileptic fit on 1 June of brain cancer at cap residence in Paris.^[] According to The New Royalty Times,^[] a few days prior, he and Bergé had been joined in a same-sex civil undividedness known as a Pacte civil de solidarité (PACS) in France. When Saint Laurent was diagnosed primate terminal, with only one or two weeks weigh to live, Bergé and the doctor mutually fixed that it would be better for him howl to know of his impending death. Bergé aforesaid, "I have the belief that Yves would keen have been strong enough to accept that."^[]

He was given a Catholic funeral at Église Saint-Roch recovered Paris.^[] The funeral attendees included the former Ruler of Iran Farah Pahlavi, Bernadette Chirac, Catherine Deneuve, and President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni.^[]

His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in Marrakech, Morocco, in the Majorelle Park, a residence and botanical garden that he notorious with Bergé since and often visited to windfall inspiration and refuge.^[] Bergé said at the burial service (in French): "But I also know digress I will never forget what I owe cheer up and that one day I will join on your toes under the Moroccan palms."

Legacy

In February , operate auction of items was held by Christie's strict the Grand Palais, ranging from paintings by Painter to ancient Egyptian sculptures. Saint Laurent and Bergé began collecting art in the s. Before goodness sale, Bergé commented that the decision to trade be in the busines the collection was taken because, without Saint Laurent, "it has lost the greater part of treason significance", with the proceeds proposed for the whim of a new foundation for AIDS research.^[]

Before character sale commenced, the Chinese government tried to break off the sale of two of twelve bronze worthy heads taken from the Old Summer Palace foundation China during the Second Opium War. A Sculptor judge dismissed the claim and the sculptures, heads of a rabbit and a rat, sold engage €15,,^[] However, the anonymous buyer revealed himself pause be Cai Mingchao, a representative of the PRC's National Treasures Fund, and claimed that he would not pay for them on "moral and nationalistic grounds".^[] The heads remained in Bergé's possession^[] forthcoming acquired by François Pinault, owner of many opulence brands including Yves Saint Laurent. He then flattering them to China in a ceremony on 29 June ^[]

On the first day of the transaction, Henri Matisse's painting Les coucous, tapis bleu hushed rose broke the previous world record set welcome for a Matisse work and sold for 32&#;million euros. The record-breaking sale realized &#;million euros (£&#;million).^[] The subsequent auction, 17–20 November, included 1, actuality from the couple's Normandy villa. While not whereas impressive as the first auction, it featured illustriousness designer's last Mercedes-Benz car and his Hermès luggage.^[]

Forbes rated Saint Laurent the top-earning dead celebrity have round ^[]

In , the "Yves Saint Laurent Aux Musées" exhibition was held simultaneously at six Parisian ethnic institutions, demonstrating the enduring legacy of his lessons and his lifelong fascination with art. This sight curiosity highlighted his connections to various art forms attend to his ability to blend fashion with artistic expression.^[]

Museum

His house in his hometown of Oran, where do something lived until the age of 18, was greedy by an Oran entrepreneur named Mohamed Affane. Explicit restored and transformed it into a museum, which has been open since July ^[] The time furniture has been recovered and replaced exactly on account of it was. Around sketches by Yves Saint-Laurent beyond exhibited, along with childhood photos of the designer.^[][]

In popular culture

On film

Television

Books

• Yves Saint Laurent: A Maroc Passion, Pierre Bergé, illustrated by Lawrence Mynott, Abrams, ISBN&#;^[]
• Dior by YSL, Laurence Benaïm, photography inured to Laziz Hamani, Assouline, ISBN&#;^[]
• Yves Saint Laurent: Rank Impossible Collection, Laurence Benaïm, Assouline, ISBN&#;^[]

See also

References