Helping women look chic in everything from pants and slim men’s-style tuxedo suits (“Le Smoking” suit), to ballerina-style gowns and relaxed day dresses, Saint Laurent’s meticulous tailoring garnered him instant fame after his first collection for Dior, Trapeze, which was considered as ground-breaking as Christian Dior’s New Look had been ten years prior.
Saint Laurent’s first collection under his own name was shown in 1962 and today the YSL brand has grown into a multi-million dollar brand complete with countless licensing deals. In fact, in 1983, at the age of 47, YSL became the first living fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art when a retrospective of his work was held at the Costume Institute and in 2001, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Légion d’Honneur by French president Jacques Chirac.
The reclusive designer retired in 2002 and his label was bought in 2000 by the Gucci Group. The noted American fashion designer Tom Ford, who at the time also headed Gucci, was put in charge of designing the YSL ready-to-wear collection much to the displeasure of Saint Laurent who didn’t approve of the raciness and overt sexuality of Ford’s designs.
Saint Laurent’s death marks a sad day for the many who admired him. His memory will be kept alive thanks in part to a foundation he himself created with Pierre Bergé — the Pierre-Berge-Saint Laurent Foundation, which traces the history of the house of YSL through 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.
