ElleCanada.com looks back at one of the most fascinating fashion designers of our time.
For fashion lovers, 20th-century Paris is the stuff of legend and as the world bids adieu to master couturier Yves Saint Laurent, the fashion world takes a moment to mourn what truly is the end of an era. Undeniably one of the greatest designers in history, Saint Laurent was widely considered to be the last of a generation of fashion greats which included Coco Chanel and Christian Dior-designers who not only ruled the runways of their time but whose influence continues to be felt today.
Soft-spoken and shy, Saint Laurent burst onto the fashion scene in 1957 when he was appointed head of the House of Dior at the age of 21 after the sudden death of Christian Dior, who called him “my dauphin” and “my right arm.” His first solo collection for Dior, the Trapeze collection, launched him into stardom, where he remained for the next five decades. That collection's trapeze dress would be the first in a long line of classic creations that would revolutionize the world of fashion and transform the way modern women dressed.
True creative minds aren't afraid of controversy and Yves Saint Laurent was no exception. In 1968, he shocked the fashion world by dressing women in pants. “My small job as a couturier,” he once said, “is to make clothes that reflect our times. I'm convinced women want to wear pants.” For the next few years he continued to shock and delight Paris with his masculine yet utterly sexy trouser suits for women, tight pants, thigh-high boots, sheer blouses and, of course, his signature “le Smoking” tuxedo jacket.
His creations became instant classics and for many years his was the final word on what each season's look would be. Diana Vreeland, the legendary magazine editor and that century's arbiter of style called him “the Pied Piper of fashion-whatever he does, women of all ages, from all over the world, follow.” Recognizing his genius and crucial place in women's fashion, in 1983, Vreeland, who was also the doyenne of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, put on a retrospective of his designs. It was the first time the museum had honored a living designer. Saint Laurent retired, a living legend, in 2002.
“There are not that many people in the pantheon of fashion,” said good friend and chief executive of the fashion house Pierre Berge. “There will be two who will undeniably remain: one who symbolized the first part of the 20th century, and that's Chanel, and the other one who will symbolize the second part of the 20th century, and that's Yves Saint Laurent."
