YSL
Yves Saint Laurent Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born on the 1st of August 1936 in Oran, Algeria. He left home for France at the age of 17, where he showed some of his designs to Michael de Brunhoff, editor of Vogue, who published some of them immediately. Following a spell at fashion school, Laurent was introduced to Christian Dior by De Brunhoff, and began to work as an assistant at the House of Dior, aged only 19. When Dior died in 1957, Laurent was put in charge of saving the House from financial ruin and was hailed as a hero.After taking over as art director for Dior, Saint Laurent launched his first collection for the company, the Ligne Trapéze, that year. It was a resounding success the world over and won him a Neiman Marcus Oscar. It was at this time that Laurent met Pierre Bergé, who was to become both his business and life partner.
In 1960, Saint Laurent created his revolutionary "Beat Look" collection which used couture techniques to refine street style. However, his dramatic designs were too much for the house of Dior and a year later they lifted bars on his national service for the Algerian War of Independence.
After only 20 days, Laurent suffered a breakdown due to the stress of his situation and ended up in a French mental hospital. He was rescued by Berge, and in 1962, the two set up Laurent’s Couture House. The couple split romantically in 1976, but remained in business together.
In 1966, he introduced le smoking, his legendary smoking suit, which prompted the consequent androgynous revolution.
Laurent launched his women’s fragrances, “Y”, in 1960, “Rive Gauche” in 1971 and “Opium” in 1978, but it was his move into men’s fashion that really hit the headlines. His YSL for Men fragrances was marketed featuring the designer naked.
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 Jacques Chirac. The following year, plagued by ill health, he closed the couture house of YSL. His final fashion show was held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on 22nd January.
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