Yves Saint Laurent was a phenomenon, one of the most influential fashion designers in the world who by making men’s wardrobe accessible to women also became part of the women’s liberation movement of the mid-20th century. It was the Le Smoking tuxedo jacket that set the tone; After that, he did the same with other men’s clothes so far like safari jackets, pea jackets, and flight suits.
His production was extraordinary, as was his lifestyle of drinking and taking drugs. He died aged 71 from brain cancer in June 2008, was cremated and his ashes scattered in his Majorelle garden in Marrakech, Morocco. As President Sarkozy said: “Yves Saint Laurent was convinced that beauty was a necessary luxury for all men and all women.”
El estudio by Yves Saint Laurent
If you want to learn more about the genius of fashion, his ideas of necessary luxury and his designs, visit his Paris studio on a tour with Cultival , a company that specializes in guided tours of places that are not generally accessible to the public. The studio is at the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation, the Foundation that YSL created with her lover and partner to preserve her heritage. The couple opened the YSL couture house in 1962 and moved to Marceau 5 A in the 16th arrondissement in 1974.
The Foundation has an extraordinary collection of 5,000 haute couture garments, as well as more than 50,000 drawings, sketches and sketchbooks, and 15,000 accessories.
While details have not been disclosed, you will likely see the Reception Rooms, Yves Saint Laurent’s study, and the library. There will also be original sketches and readings from the YSL annotations to the workshops, as well as haute couture prototypes. It will be a fascinating insight into the life and work of the designer who astonished and shocked the world.
Fundación Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent
5 avenue Marceau
Paris 16
Web sitio
La vida by Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born on August 1, 1935 in Oran, Algeria. At 18 he moved to Paris, studied at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, and got enough attention for his designs for an introduction to Christian Dior. Yves Saint Laurent’s significant rise to fame within the house began when he won first prize for a cocktail dress he designed in 1954. When Dior died at the unexpected young age of 52, YSL took over, launching a collection spring and his career seemed done. However, he was interrupted by a spell: in 1960 he was drafted into the French army fighting in Algeria, suffered a nervous breakdown and was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
The subsequent launch of Dior was a blessing. His longtime partner, Pierre Bergé, provided the finances; YSL inspiration and in 1962, the couple launched the YSL label. In 1966 he opened his Rive Gauche boutique, the first to offer ready-to-wear clothing; menswear was introduced in the 1970s
Yves Saint Laurent was way ahead of his time. He was the first designer to wear ethnic models on the runway; in 1971 his radical collection from the 1940s shocked critics; He posed nude for his first YSL men’s fragrance, Pour Homme , which created a huge frenzy of interest and condemnation, and in 1977 he launched his Opium perfume. In the early 1980s, his fame was such that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York held his first solo exhibition on a fashion designer. The Saint Laurent fashion house was sold in 1993 and was finally retired in 2002.
Today his designs are as iconic as ever; while the name lives on with new designers at the helm.
Yves Saint Laurent stores in Paris:
- 38 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, París 8
- 9 Rue de Grenelle, París 7
- 6 Place Saint-Sulpice, París 6
