Purple with grey foliage print halter neck floor length gown, tie at waist and handkerchief hem

Yves Saint Laurent

1936 - 2008

BiographyQuite simply, Yves Saint Laurent is one of the greatest names in fashion history. Along with Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, he was part of a couturier triumvirate that epitomized the best of 20th-century fashion and style. A prodigious sketcher, he was never an “inventor” of styles, nor was he a master craftsman. Instead, like Chanel before him, Saint Laurent was a modernist who re-contextualized many items of functional clothing, such as safari jackets and men’s tuxedos, into chic and feminine wardrobe staples. Saint Laurent also produced sweepingly exotic and romantic clothes, inspired by such diverse sources as Russian ballet or the demi mondaine (courtesans) of the Belle Epoque-era Paris. Few couturiers could match Saint Laurent’s blend of perfectly proportioned cuts and brilliant color combinations.

Although he was known to the world at large by his initials—YSL—the designer was born Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent in Oran, Algeria, in 1936. A precocious talent, he moved to Paris to pursue a fashion career. When he was just seventeen years old, Saint Laurent was hired as Christian Dior's assistant; a mere four years later, following Dior’s sudden death, he was named head of Dior’s house. While his first collection was a triumph, subsequent seasons were viewed as too avant-garde. After a traumatic stint in the army and his firing from Dior, Saint Laurent opened his own fashion house in 1961 with Pierre Bergé. The two were romantically involved from the late 1950s to 1976 and remained friends and business partners for the remainder of Saint Laurent’s life.

Saint Laurent’s boundary pushing landmark styles and use of racially diverse models altered the course of fashion and revived French couture. His ready-to-wear line, Rive Gauche, which debuted in 1966, set the template for the modern fashion business model.

Saint Laurent’s appreciation for art and beauty took many forms. Throughout his career he created costumes for the theatre, ballet, and cinema. YSL and Bergé were also both avid art collectors, amassing over 700 works dispersed between their two Paris residencies. The diverse collection included modern paintings, baroque bronzes, antique silverware, statues, cameos, and minerals. Artists from his personal collection such as Picasso and Mondrian also served as inspiration for his haute couture collections. He was equally inspired by far off destinations including Morocco where he would design his collections every December and June beginning in 1966. During the 1970s he was a regular in the New York and Paris nightlife scenes where he mingled with other artists, models, designers, and socialites.

So celebrated was Saint Laurent during his lifetime that, in 1983, he was the first living fashion designer to have a monographic exhibition of his work organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. While they are more common today, such exhibitions were controversial at the time. Saint Laurent died in 2008. His passing was a widely reported event, particularly in France, and his funeral was attended by leading political figures and celebrities alike.

The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris displays the couturier’s body of work in his former haute couture house through temporary exhibitions. Both the Paris museum and The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakesh are overseen by The Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent to preserve his legacy.

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