"I Have Just A Talent. This Is Mysterious, But Nature Has Provided Me A Talent" - Yves Saint Laurent
He was perhaps the greatest fashion designer of our time. The most beautiful women in the world idolized him: Yves Saint Laurent. The style icon designed clothes for women that sometimes did not seem to be out of this world. Who was this man who influenced the fashion world like no other? Moreover, what happened after his death concerning the fashion empire of YSL?
Yves Saint Laurent was born as the son of a senior insurance clerk Alsace-Lorraine descent on 1st, August 1936 in Algeria. He probably got his enthusiasm for fashion from his mother, who herself tailored and received the glossy magazines from France. When eleven the tender boy watched a theater performance: Moliere's "The School for Wives ". This drummed up enthusiasm for for stage costumes in him. At the age of 17, Yves then participated at a fashion competition held in Paris. In addition, Lagerfeld was involved at this time. The young Yves won the third prize. In 1953, he went to Paris to start an education as a fashion and stage artist and designer at the Fashion Institute "Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. After another won fashion designer contest, his creations were published in the Vogue magazine. The former director of the Vogue introduced the young designer Christian Dior – with who he immediately was engaged until his death. After the death of Dior Saint Laurent became art director. At the age of only 21, Yves Saint Laurent was the youngest couturier for haute couture in the world. The first collection for Dior, "Ligne Trapéze“, was celebrated worldwide. It freed the woman from the figure-hugging fashion of the wasp waist and revolved the women´s wardrobes: Pantsuits and sailors jackets were in from then now.
At this time, Yves Saint Laurent met his longtime friend and partner Pierre Berge. He said about Yves: "Chanel gave women freedom, and Saint Laurent gave them power." It really took off for the fashion designer. Until he was summoned one day to military service in Algeria. Even before departure, Yves suffered from a nervous breakdown. He was treated with electric shocks and sedatives in a psychiatric hospital. This is the cause of his later lifelong dependence on alcohol and drug addiction. Bergé pulled him out of psychiatry and founded the own fashion house "Société Yves Saint Laurent" (YSL) with him.
In summer 2012 it was announced that the ready-to-wear collection established by Yves Saint Laurent in 1965 under the name "Saint Laurent - Rive Gauche" needed to get renamed in "Saint Laurent Paris". Since then Hedi Slimane develops the fashion line of the house at his studio in Los Angeles. The company itself and especially the cosmetic division of the house still operate under the name of YSL in Paris.
