His famous Mondrian – the dress inspired by the technique of the Dutch painter of the same name – is still today a tangible trace of his passion for art. But Yves Saint Laurent, the designer born on 1 August 1936 in Oran (capital of what was then French Algeria), he loved every single aspect of life: love, literature, elegance, the women for whom he designed his clothes. First those signed by Dior, of which he assumed the creative direction in 1957. And later those of his homonymous maison. Here we retrace the history and career of Yves Saint Laurent through seven of his precious maxims.
Time passes, but not her idea of fashion: minimal, elegant, practical. Because, as Giorgio Armani teaches, “elegance is not about getting noticed, but about being remembered”. We celebrate the king of Italian fashion with his most precious maxims
Elegance as a state of mind, elegance as a modus vivendi. Yves Saint Laurent’s passion for fashion was born at an early age, when already as a child he showed a particular fondness for making paper dolls. Those first artistic experiments then turned into sketches and drawings: the clothes he imagined for his mother Lucienne and his sisters Michelle and Brigitte. Upon reaching the age of majority, at eighteen Saint Laurent moved to the capital of fashion: Paris. This is where it comes in and is part of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and start building your network of contacts.
Little could Yves Saint Laurent know that one day he would take over the artistic reins of the Dior maison: it is in Paris that it is presented to him in fact Monsieur Christian Dior, a source of inspiration for him. Upon the French couturier’s death in 1957, Saint Laurent became creative director of the brand.
In 1961, after a series of unfortunate events, Yves Saint Laurent manages to found his eponymous fashion house. Only a year earlier, at the height of his expressive maturity at Dior, the designer had nonetheless been forced to enlist, to side with France in the Algerian war of independence. The experience was traumatic: Yves Saint Laurent was hospitalized after less than a month on the front. Other news, equally tragic for his career as a couturier, contributed to the deterioration of his mental health: Dior had fired him. After his resignation from the hospital, Yves Saint Laurent sued the Dior brand and it was thanks to the amount obtained from the victory in court that, together with Pierre Bergé – partner and life partner, whose bond is celebrated in the documentary Yves Saint Laurent: L’amour fou – managed to found his own brand.
Karl Lagerfeld would have liked to invent the shirt, Yves Saint Laurent instead the jeans. «There is nothing more spectacular, more practical, more relaxed and casual – he declared about denim trousers. – They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity. Everything I want for my clothes». Although he was not the leader over jeans, Saint Laurent could boast many othersfirst of all, having borrowed emblematic garments from the men’s wardrobe, reinterpreting them for women. Among these, the tuxedo, the safari jacket and also the suit.
For Saint Laurent there could be no fashion without art, and vice versa. His is the famous Mondrian dress inspired by the artistic figure of the famous painter, but his strong passion for this world stimulated him to make many tributes. Picasso, Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Matisse were just some of the artists he revered.
Love was also one of the central themes in Yves Saint Laurent’s work, and not just in his fashion collections. For twenty-five long years – from 1970 to 2007, the year in which he then passed away – the designer worked in the creation of the so-called Love Cardspostcards with his illustrations dedicated to the noblest of sentiments.
That fashion was conceived for a very elitist slice of society, Saint Laurent knew this well. But that the fashion product could be made more commercial and within everyone’s reach – also thanks to the advent of ready-to-wear–porter on the exclusivity of haute couture – was an idea always prevalent in his work. And that allowed him, in this sense, to also be a pioneer from this point of view.
Emblematic name of 20th century fashion, Gianni Versace was a designer “of his time” and of what is yet to come. His artistic legacy, celebrated today in the creative vision of his sister Donatella, lives on in these 7 precious maxims
The Saint Laurent woman? Carla Bruni, Betty Catroux, Marisa Berenson, Laetitia Casta, Amalia Vairelli and Violeta Sanchez they were just some of his extraordinary muses. Last year, the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent Aux Musées in Paris he exhibited a heart-shaped pendant that the designer gave to Laetitia Casta, of whom Saint Laurent was also a trusted friend. Today his precious artistic legacy continues with Anthony Vaccarellocurrent creative director of the maison since 2016. And the story continues…
Other Vanity Fair stories you might be interested in:
– Everything Valentino Garavani, in 7 unforgettable sentences
– Everything Gianni Versace, in 7 unforgettable sentences
– All of Karl Lagerfeld, in 7 unforgettable quotes
– All Christian Dior, in 7 unforgettable quotes
– All of Coco Chanel, in 10 unforgettable quotes
– Everything Giorgio Armani in 7 memorable phrases
Source: Vanity Fair
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