A Brief History of Yves Saint Laurent
Every man needs aesthetic phantoms in order to exist…I did not choose this tragic descent. But through it I was able to rise to the heavens of creativity…discovering myself and understanding that the most important encounters in one’s life is that of oneself.
— Yves Saint Laurent
The Sixties and Seventies were instrumental decades in the formation of the high fashion industry as it is known today. Not only a time of significant political and social upheaval, a similar collision of various métiers eventually gave rise to many powerful individuals with diverse talents. Without this period in fashion, we would never have seen the rise of the likes of Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld, or Yves Saint Laurent. Yet, arguably, it was Yves Saint Laurent who became the most influential designer of the Twentieth Century.
Early Life and Career
Yves Saint Laurent grew up during the 1940s in Oran, French Algeria. From a young age he was mostly shy and reserved, and he was filled with a clear sense of self-direction, determination, and visionary ideas. As a daydreamer, he was often picked on by other kids in school. Unfortunately, this torment continued throughout his life and created a lasting suffering that later turned into depression and a chimera of other vices.
In 1954, Saint Laurent enrolled at L’École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ECSCP), which was the most coveted couture industry school in Paris at the time, though he only lasted for three months, due to the overwhelming ‘traditional’ experience. After this brief stint, his designs were then brought over to Michel de Bruhnhoff, the then editor-in-chief of French Vogue, who noticed similarities between his work and the soon-to-be-released A-line Dior. In fact, his designs left such a strong impression on the powerful editor that the following year Saint Laurent became an assistant at Christian Dior, working directly for the monumental designer.
However, he was not the only talented up and coming designer at the time. Due to Karl Lagerfeld’s equally rampant success, both having spent a brief period at ECSCP, as well as being four years his senior, the two often found themselves running in the same circles, going out on the town with the same artists and designers.
In 1957, Christian Dior passed away from a heart attack during a stay in Montecatini, Italy. Dior named Saint Laurent as his successor, prompting him to cross paths with Pierre Bergé, an entrepreneur and close friend of Dior’s up until his death. Quite soon after meeting, the pair began an almost two-decade long relationship; needless to say, it was a relationship filled with many highs and lows.
In an article published by The Talk, Bergé remarked on his first meeting with Saint Laurent, ‘For me, fashion was not an art. In my eyes, it was just something to make money.’ When the interviewer then asked if they met for the first time at Christian Dior’s funeral, Bergé replied ‘Well, you can see us both in a picture that shows the mourning guests, but in fact, I met him during a dinner organized by Marie-Louise Bousquet. I had come to congratulate him a few days after his first collection at Dior was presented. We were living together six months later.’
Throughout their time spent together, Pierre developed a protective attitude towards Saint Laurent and at times was amicably referred to as his ‘bodyguard’. Nearly two decades after they met, the couple split in 1976, but remained friends and business partners for life. However, this split caused Saint Laurent the most reckless and tumultuous years of his life, sinking him into a great depression and dependency on harmful substances, as he overworked himself to exhaustion. Eventually leading to his passing of brain cancer in 2008.
Legacy and Influence
I suddenly realized that dresses should no longer be composed of lines, but colours. I realized that we had to stop conceiving of a garment as sculpture and that, on the contrary, we had to view it as a mobile. I realized that fashion had been rigid up till then, and that we now have to make it move.
— Yves Saint Laurent, The Little Book of Yves Saint Laurent
There were many highlights of Yves Saint Laurent’s career, so much so that a single article cannot fathom to represent them all. But, at 47 years old, he had finally made his lifelong dream a reality. In 1962, inconceivable without the help of Bergé, he finally broke away from his ties to Dior and opened his own fashion house, officially making Yves Saint Laurent a stand-alone fashion designer of his very own luxury brand. At the peak of his career, he was considered by many the most important designer of the twentieth century. However, in terms of designing, he is mainly praised for inventing the Mondrian dress.
Highly credited for its ingenuity, the design took inspiration from the paintings of both Russian-born French modernist, Serge Poliakoff and Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian.
Immediately following Dior’s passing, Saint Laurent decided that, unlike his predecessor, a dress should not have to be defined by its shape. Through the input of his mother, Lucienne, he believed that a dress should be as comfortable as it is fashionable. For this reason, he removed the waistbands that tightly cinched women’s waists, forever loosening up women’s wear. He was perhaps the first designer to shorten women’s dresses, invent wide-legged ‘sailor’ pants, put women in pantsuits, bare women’s breasts on the runway, and make couture simpler and sophisticated rather than merely frivolous. However, his daringness did not end there. Beyond clothing, his incredible talent as a fashion designer influenced the zeitgeist and challenged various social constructs. He redefined what was considered ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ in clothing, becoming a catalyst for redefining gender norms that continue to persist today.
Written by Abbey Villasis
Edited by Fashion Editor, Holly Anderson
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