Yves Saint Laurent, his French bulldogs Muzhiki and the “Russian trace” in his work. Photos of Yves Saint Laurent over the years

On August 1, one of the most iconic fashion designers of our time, Yves Saint Laurent, would have turned 77 years old. A brawler and a pioneer, he made a real revolution in the world of fashion. In honor of the great couturier’s birthday, we decided to recall 10 of his most original and revolutionary decisions that forever changed the world of fashion.

Brand Yves Saint Laurent (now renamed Saint Laurent Paris by new creative designer Hedi Slimane) is a true revolution in the fashion world. And the credit for this, of course, belongs to its creator and creative designer Yves Saint Laurent. He created a style that is timeless and allows every woman to be fashionable while remaining individual. He himself was a bright, interesting personality and a bit of a seer, who knew better than the fashionistas themselves what they would want to wear tomorrow.

“The best clothing for a woman is the embrace of a man who loves her. But for those who are deprived of such happiness, there is me.”

He was only 19 years old when the great Christian Dior liked his drawings. He became his assistant and then his successor. An unthinkable act at that time. After all, Dior himself was 41 years old when he opened his House. Such a brilliant career was interrupted by military service, a nervous breakdown, followed by hospitalization.

What's your favorite color? - Black. - The quality that you value most in people? - Tolerance. - What is your main drawback? - Shyness. - What are you always ready to forgive? - Betrayal.

He remained a neurasthenic throughout his life. But it was already the 60s - the era of just such brilliant neurasthenics who grew up in luxury. In 1961, 25-year-old Saint Laurent opened his own House. In subsequent years, he forever changed the world of fashion, offering something that no one had thought of before.

African style dresses

His African collection, presented in 1967, is still considered one of the most important in the history of fashion and one of the best in the designer’s work. The collection was inspired by memories of short period military service on this sun-dried continent. He included exotic motifs of primitive jewelry, bright wooden beads, and high African hairstyles.

“Visiting Marrakesh was a huge shock for me. This city taught me color".

Women's tuxedo

In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent made a real revolution in the world of fashion: he dressed a woman in a tuxedo, which was considered exclusively men's clothing. The new look from Laurent instantly won the love of Parisian fashionistas, and became truly popular after Le Smoking was immortalized in a photo shoot for Vogue by cult photographer Helmut Newton.

Saint Laurent himself liked to repeat that a woman’s tuxedo is part of the style, and not a fad of fashion. After all, fashion changes, but style is eternal.

Catherine Deneuve, Francoise Hardy, Liza Minnelli and a great many society ladies immediately dressed in Yves Saint Laurent tuxedos.

Sheer blouses

In 1962, Yves Saint Laurent became involved in a big scandal. The reason for this was the transparent blouses created by the designer. However, Yves never paid attention to criticism. He was sure that he knew better than the women themselves what they needed. And he was right, over the years this has been confirmed.

Over the knee boots

Most women today don’t even realize that they have Saint Laurent to thank for the opportunity to wear over the knee boots. After all, it was he who included this part of the once only men’s wardrobe in his collections of women’s clothing.

Pret-a-porter line

In 1966, the designer opened his first boutique, Rive Gauche, named after what was then considered a refuge for anarchists on the left bank of the Seine, making another revolution - the store sold everyday clothes, in no way inferior to evening clothes. Since then, designers have presented pr?t-?-porter collections twice a year (spring and autumn).

Safari style

Enough for a long time Safari-style clothing was worn only by hunters and naturalists, but in the 50s, thanks to cinema, it won the love of fashionistas all over the world. In 1968, YSL's famous safari-style collection was presented, causing a boom among fans of the couturier's work and radically changing the idea of ​​what travel clothing should look like. The iconic Saharienne lace jacket from this collection is still considered the hallmark of the fashion house.

Leather jacket

In the 1962 collection, Yves Saint Laurent invited women to try on leather jackets, then only black. So women, again, should owe their ever-fashionable leather goods to the genius of Saint Laurent, and not to the commissars of the 20s.

Unisex style

Friendship with Betty Catroux inspired Yves Saint Laurent to create a unisex style. The socialite, who became the fashion designer's muse and devoted friend, had an androgynous appearance and early realized what kind of clothes suited her. She mostly wore “men's” things: trousers, jeans, simple sweaters, shirts, T-shirts, men's jackets and shoes. She never changed this style. With her appearance and attitude to life, she inspired the great master Yves Saint Laurent to create a style that combined masculine and feminine together. From that time on, the unisex style began its triumphant march through the fashion world.

Black fashion models

Participation in fashion shows dark-skinned models became another scandalous innovation of the great couturier. The career of the famous “black panther” Naomi Campbell began with a fashion show during the YSL fashion collection. In August 1988, she appeared on the cover of French Vogue as the first black model. This was preceded by a threat from her friend and mentor Yves Saint Laurent to withdraw all of his advertising from the magazine if the editors refused to place a photo of Campbell or any other black model on the cover.

“I owe him a huge debt,” said Naomi Campbell. “He supported me, and therefore all girls of color.”

The beginning of the story of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Algeria, but the political and economic situation that developed there did not give the future fashion designer rest and creative development. So he moved to Paris, closer to beauty and fashion. There he got a job as an assistant to Christian Dior himself. He drew inspiration from his mother, such a gentle and always charming woman.

Yves Saint Laurent in

After working for Dior for several years, he gained fame in Paris. On the fly, he could draw a sketch of a dress, shape the style of a blouse, skirt and trousers, and make the image unique. In his early years, at one of the parties, he met.
As everyone knows, the designer is gay; he has never hidden his non-traditional sexual orientation.
The film was based on the memoirs of the fashion designer’s close people, such as Pierre Berger, Karl Lagerfeld, Laurence Heroil.
Further in the film, after the death of Christian Dior, our hero took over the post of creative director of the Fashion House. He worked on sketches day and night, feeling proud and, at the same time, fear whether he could maintain the former popularity of the Christian Dior fashion house. The chief editors of fashionable American and French glossy magazines called the couturier a “naughty child” in their circles. At the Christian Dior fashion house, all the models loved him, went with Yves to clubs and restaurants, and accompanied him to social events.

Image of Yves Saint Laurent

The designer always bowed to the public after shows in a strict black suit, this was his business card. The film clearly depicts the image of Yves Saint Laurent, right down to his unique gait.

The Life of Yves Saint Laurent

The designer devoted his entire life to art and fashion; he constantly drew sketches of clothes. In his free time, he liked to pose for an artist friend who painted him. The fashion designer relaxed in clubs, and over time, he became hooked on them. Each successful show in the evening was accompanied by cheerful, incendiary parties at his home or in a social establishment.

At the same time, he was accompanied by models, who in the 70s almost all smoked weed and used soft drugs. Couturier also began to use them, which subsequently greatly affected his health.
The designer's favorite model for many years was Victoria, then they had a fight and at one of the parties he met another model girl named Betty.

With popularity, problems began to appear in the life of the couturier. One was the army. Since the fashion designer was born in Algeria, he began to be called up to serve in the national army, although at that time he had already lived and worked in Paris for a long time. Arriving in Algeria, the locals reacted negatively to the couturier, as they knew about his unconventional sexual orientation.
Against the backdrop of experiences and suffering, he developed manic depression, the fashion designer was put in prison. psychiatric clinic. After receiving some treatment there, he came out with a calm soul, ready to work and create, draw and craft. beautiful clothes. But another blow happened - he was kicked out of Christian Dior. His boyfriend sued Roger (the owner of the Dior house) and the fashion house itself.

Personal life of Yves Saint Laurent

Personal life of Yves Saint Laurent - main topic film. His love was imbued with life. His main love was Pierre Berger, a businessman and public figure, with whom he later opened his fashion house. But more on that later. She and Berger lived together, worked and rested together. But he was much freer than Pierre Berger. Loved parties handsome men and fun.

Soon after the opening of Yves Saint Laurent, the lovers began to have scandals and quarrels. Pierre Berger cheated on his beloved with his fashion model Victoria. Having learned about this, the fashion designer kicked her out of the Fashion House and out of his life.
At one of the parties, he met Jacques De Bascher, the boyfriend and love of Karl Lagerfeld’s life. They began dating secretly, and later everyone found out about their romance. This was Laurent’s outlet, he understood him, was just as vulnerable and gentle. He confessed to Berger about his infidelities. They separated, but throughout the designer’s life and until the end of his days, they were together, helped each other, empathized, worked and worked on the Yves Saint Laurent brand.

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berger open their own brand “Yves Saint Laurent”

Lovers Pierre Berger and Yves Saint Laurent have the opportunity to open their own brand, Yves Saint Laurent. They prepared a team, there were many ideas, sketches drawn by the fashion designer, and their own “YSL” logo appeared (in June 2012 it was renamed “SLP” - Saint Laurent Paris).
“Impeccability as a way to compete with Chanel,” journalists wrote about the first Yves Saint Laurent show. But he did not despair and continued to create fashion. Yves often said about himself that youth was passing him by.

The last years of Yves Saint Laurent's life

IN last years Throughout his life, the fashion designer was very ill; his numerous affairs with men, his unconventional lifestyle, and drugs took their toll. Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008.
This is such a film that “shocks the minds of mankind.” In my opinion, there is too little fashion in this whole story.

This man's full name is Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent. Born in colonial Algeria, into a wealthy French family. The father of the future couturier dreamed of a career as a lawyer for his son, especially since Yves studied well at school. But the younger Saint Laurent was not happy with this prospect, and he found an ally in his mother. He doubted which profession would suit him better—a theater artist or a fashion designer. When the young man was in high school, his mother, the beautiful Lucienne, brought her son to Paris for the first time. Using her connections, she organized a meeting for her son with Michel de Brunoff, editor-in-chief of Paris Vogue. After getting acquainted with Saint Laurent's sketches, Brunoff realized that the young man definitely had a gift for fashion design that needed further development.

After graduating from school (in 1954, he was then 18 years old), Yves came to Paris, entered fashion school and in the fall of the same year participated in a competition for young fashion designers. As a result, he won the top prize for his design of a cocktail dress with an unusual asymmetrical neckline. By the way, the young German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who participated in the same competition, took the prize for the coat he designed.

Michel de Brunoff continued to participate in the fate of his protégé - he regularly looked at his sketches, gave advice, introduced him to the right people. One day, Yves brought in a series of fresh sketches, and de Brunoff was extremely surprised to see a striking resemblance to the sketches for the collection of his friend Christian Dior, although Dior had never shown it to the general public. De Brunoff called the great couturier and convinced him to meet with Saint Laurent. The result of this significant meeting for the 18-year-old fashion designer was an invitation to work at the house of Dior. Yves Saint Laurent's work was appreciated, and very soon he became right hand masters Soon he declared him his heir. In September 1957, Dior went on vacation, leaving the fashion house in the care of Saint Laurent. Dior suffered a heart attack, as a result of which his life was cut short, and he never returned from vacation.

Saint Laurent slightly modified the traditional Dior style and in January 1958 presented his first independent collection to the public. He proposed new shift dresses with a loose silhouette. Newspapers immediately announced that the 21-year-old fashion designer had saved French fashion. Success new collection led to an immediate increase in sales of the house of Dior by 35%.

However, clouds soon began to gather over the young couturier. The owner of the house of Dior, textile magnate Marcel Boussac, doubted the creative direction chosen by Yves Saint Laurent. Many conservatives were alarmed by the experiments of the “little prince” in crossing high style with a more democratic street fashion. The public's delight subsided: she greeted the next five collections much more calmly.

In 1960, Saint Laurent was taken to military service. There were rumors that Boussac had arranged for him to be drafted into the army. But Saint Laurent spent only two weeks there: the shock of the sudden change in situation caused a severe nervous breakdown. The result was two and a half months of the fashion designer’s life in a Parisian mental hospital. This time did not pass without a trace for his career. Returning to Dior's house, Saint Laurent discovered that the management had found a replacement for him in the person of another young genius - Marc Bohan. Yves was offered a new, more modest position: he had to monitor compliance with the terms of licenses issued by the company in England. Saint Laurent was offended by these changes in his absence. He filed a lawsuit against the house of Dior, winning $24 thousand. This money became the foundation on which he decided, together with his friend Pierre Berger, to found own house models. Berger also enlisted the support of American millionaire Mack Robinson, who allocated money to promote the new enterprise.

Official opening own home Yves Saint Laurent's fashion happened in December 1961. At the same time, the couturier said: “I moved from the world of fabrics and proportions to the world of silhouettes and lines.” This is how the democratic ready-to-wear fashion began.

Paris was eagerly awaiting the first collection with the YSL logo with bated breath. Many predicted failure, but the gloomy forecasts did not come true - the show ended with an ovation, everyone was happy.

Since then, Yves Saint Laurent's career has taken off again. Almost every year he proposed new ideas, which ultimately changed modern fashion beyond recognition. Among his innovations are a raincoat jacket, which appeared in 1962, vinyl raincoats - in 1965, and women's raincoats in 1966 pantsuits, peacoats, striped T-shirt dresses and the famous ladies' tuxedos. It was a real revolution in women's wardrobe. IN next year his collection included safari-style suits with patch pockets, overalls and - as an alternative - transparent dresses.

Since 1966, Saint Laurent began to release every year, in addition to two collections of exclusive haute couture clothing, two more collections of ready-to-wear Rive Gauche. He was the first to predict that the ready-to-wear market would eventually become the leading sector of the fashion industry. Saint Laurent’s success is best explained by the words of Coco Chanel, who, like Christian Dior, proclaimed him her successor: “Everyone thinks about the transience of fashion, but Yves Saint Laurent thinks about modern clothes for a woman of the second half of the 20th century." This practicality led Saint Laurent to financial success, which, however, turned out to be short-lived.

Thanks to the entrepreneurial talents of Pierre Berger, the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house turned into a multimillion-dollar empire in the 70s. It was not only clothing that brought profit, but also related products- perfumes, jewelry, bags. As for perfumes, Opium became one of the perfume bestsellers of all time, glorifying both the YSL brand and its ideological inspirer. But since the late 80s, a crisis began at YSL. To improve matters, Pierre Berger began actively selling licenses to use the YSL brand to third-party manufacturers. Promiscuity in business relations led to the fact that the famous brand was shredded, its image in the eyes of buyers was blurred, losing its exclusivity. Saint Laurent and Berger still had one more trump card - the support of French President Mitterrand. Under his pressure, in 1993, the state-owned Elf-Sanofi acquired a significant stake in Yves Saint Laurent and began investing in it. But the change of power at the Elysee Palace deprived the company of this easy income.

Then, for several years in a row, YSL operated at a loss, and the company's losses continued to grow: from $700 thousand in 1999 to $70 million in 2001. True scale YSL's problems only became apparent after French billionaire François Pinault bought a controlling stake for $1 billion in 1999. Another $70 million was paid to Berger and Saint Laurent for the right to use the YSL brand in the pret-a-porter line. Haute couture collections (two a year) remained the domain of the maestro.

To restore the dying model house, Pino threw his strike forces- Italian businessman Domenico de Sole and American designer Tom Ford. Just a few years ago, this couple became famous for managing not only to revive another legendary company, Gucci, from the ashes, but also to grow it into a worthy competitor to the LVMH holding, owned by Pinault’s sworn enemy, Bernard Arnault.

Speaking about the new ideologists of the YSL brand, it is worth noting that Tom Ford is energetic by nature, businesslike, even aggressive person. In many ways, he is the complete opposite of the nervous, emotional, suffering from frequent depression Yves Saint Laurent. This dissimilarity explains a lot, including the fact that it became difficult for them to get along in the same model house. An agreement was concluded between Ford and Saint Laurent on non-interference in each other’s affairs, but an equal alliance still did not work out.

In January 2001, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé pointedly ignored the show of the first ready-to-wear collection created by Tom Ford for YSL. Moreover, the next day, both, as if nothing had happened, appeared at the debut show of Hedi Slimane from the rival house Christian Dior. His appearance did not go unnoticed, because before that the fashion designer had ignored other people’s shows for about ten years. At the same show, television crews managed to film sensational footage of a conversation between Yves Saint Laurent and Bernard Arnault, during which the couturier complained about life and said that he felt deceived. And now, a year later, the maestro announces that he has decided to finally leave the “fashion business.” Although this news was expected, it still became a sensation. “Today I decided to say goodbye to the world of fashion, which I loved so much...” said 65-year-old Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most famous personalities in your profession. The real reason for this was insurmountable disagreements with the owner of the Yves Saint Laurent company, Francois Pinault. Saint Laurent read out a prepared speech and left, leaving Pierre Berger to explain himself to journalists. He hastened to assure the press that his friend’s departure was not related to any pressure from Francois Pinault.

The YSL brand will continue to exist, but there will no longer be haute couture collections with that name - for this Saint Laurent thanked Pinault, who allowed the master to end his career gracefully. Francois Pinault has already announced that he will try to save as many jobs as possible, but he has not given any guarantees to anyone. The fate of the 158 employees who worked with Saint Laurent remains unclear, as does future life the fashion designer himself.

Yves Saint Laurent, full name Yves André Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent (1936-2008) - French fashion designer, creator of a fashion house named after him.

He worked in the world of high fashion for more than thirty years. He introduced elements of the men's wardrobe into women's fashion - tuxedos, stylish leather jackets and thigh-high boots. He went down in history as the youngest director of a fashion house. He founded the unisex style and was the first to invite black models to take part in his fashion shows.

Childhood

Yves Saint Laurent, who in the future conquered first Paris, France, and then the whole world, his life path I didn’t start out in the European fashion center at all, but in Africa. In the Algerian city of Orano, on August 1, 1936, a boy was born into the family of insurance agent Saint Laurent (at that time Algeria was still a French colony).

His father and grandfather had been involved in law and the insurance business for several decades, and in this area there was a real dynasty of Saint Laurent lawyers. And naturally, everyone in the family thought that little Yves would continue their work in the future. But the boy was destined for a completely different fate.

The first bell that the child was growing up to be unique rang when Yves was three years old. Then he told his aunt that her shoes did not match the dress at all. At first the aunt was offended, considered her nephew a little impudent person and left him without a sweet dessert as punishment. But then, after carefully examining her outfit in the mirror, she came to the conclusion that the baby was right after all.

As a child, Yves' favorite thing was to go to the local Algerian bazaar. There he greedily absorbed the bright exotic colors of Africa and oriental spicy aromas, and many years later he poured it all out in his fashion collections.

Studies

His parents sent Yves to a prestigious college, where boys from good and wealthy families studied. But the child did not want to cram jurisprudence so much that he hid in the toilet, locked himself in there and cried. But he drew with great pleasure, only not cars and war, like all boys, but sketches of dresses for dolls.

By the age of eleven, theater added to Saint Laurent's passion for drawing, and at the age of fourteen he began organizing home puppet shows. He painted and made decorations and small dolls himself, painted old rags and glued them into costumes (he didn’t know how to sew yet). He dressed his dolls, called his sisters and cousins ​​and showed them the performances:

• “The School for Wives” by the French comedian Moliere;
• “Joan of Arc” by the outstanding Irishman Bernard Shaw;
• “The Double-Headed Eagle” by French playwright Jean Cocteau;
• “For Lucretia” by the French novelist Hippolyte Jean-Giraudoux.

These masters of the pen and their work had a huge influence on the artistic development of Saint Laurent. In addition to literature, Yves was very interested in the paintings of French artists Edouard Manet and Henri Matisse, as well as paintings by the Spaniard Diego Velazquez.

Yves approached adulthood as a skinny and short-sighted guy, and besides, in public he was unsure of himself. But when he was alone with his dreams, he imagined himself as a great fashion designer.

Paris

When Yves was seventeen years old, the family moved to Paris. Here he went to study “haute couture” drawing courses. Saint Laurent decided to send several of his drawings to Vogue magazine and to a competition organized by the International Wool Secretariat. His work impressed both the magazine's editorial board and the competition jury. Yves Saint Laurent's little black cocktail dress won first prize at the competition. The only disappointing thing was that I had to share the victory with the German Karl Lagerfeld. This dislike was mutual at first sight; the two great fashion designers maintained it until the end of their lives.

Chief Editor Vogue magazine Michel de Brunoff was so impressed by Saint Laurent's sketches that he decided to introduce him to French fashion designer Christian Dior. Yves had never studied the art of cutting, did not know the technique of drawing, and certainly had no idea from which side to approach a woman while trying on a dress. Despite this, Dior hired Saint Laurent as his assistant. In 1955, Yves began working at the fashion house of Dior and, at the same time, got a job as an apprentice with an ordinary tailor to learn the basics of cutting and sewing.

Despite the fact that Christian was more than thirty years older than Yves, there was an immediate connection between them. a good relationship. They quickly found mutual language because they were similar to each other in many ways. As children, both of them were not interested in fun and toys for boys; they made outfits and dressed their sisters’ dolls. For both Yves and Christian the best and true friend there was a mother. Moreover, even in at a young age both realized that they felt absolute indifference to opposite sex, loved only their own kind.

Triumphant first show

In the fall of 1957, Dior suddenly died as a result of a heart attack. 21-year-old Saint Laurent was appointed artistic director and head of the famous fashion house Dior. In the history of fashion, such a rapid career was the first time.

Until the end of his life, Yves clearly remembered that winter day in January 1958 when his first fashion show took place. He, as the main artist of the House of Dior, presented his first women's collection. Saint Laurent showed a new trapezoid line, thus playing with traditional Russian sundresses. Then the shows were held without musical accompaniment. Yves stood in complete silence, fingering the curtain, afraid of the spoiled metropolitan public and failure.

The show is over. At 30 Avenue Montaigne (the address of the holy of holies of French and world fashion - the House of Dior) a crowd gathered and demanded to show them the genius who so boldly continued the work of the great Christian. French industrialist Marcel Boussac, who had invested his capital in the fashion business for many years and, in fact, was the head of the House of Dior, pushed Saint Laurent onto the balcony. It was a triumph; the high society of Paris applauded their new idol. He had been waiting for this moment for so long, but he wanted to escape to his studio to experience the fulfillment of his dream in solitude and silence.

The next morning, all the newspapers in Paris wrote on their front pages about the new genius: “The trapezoid line has created a sensation in the fashion world. It turns out that a woman is sexy not only with a deep neckline and a tight bodice.” His first invention, the trapeze dress, was immediately worn by film stars Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, followed by all the fashionistas of the world.

The path to the top of fashion

In 1959, Saint Laurent and twelve fashion models brought French fashion to the world for the first time. Soviet Union, presenting a collection of outerwear for women.

In 1960, the fashion genius was drafted into the army and ended up serving in Algeria. The army journey was short-lived; after three weeks, Yves had a deep nervous breakdown and ended up in a psychiatric clinic. For gentle men there was treatment without much fancy - electric shock, tranquilizers, stimulants. After such an army, the fashion designer became addicted to drugs and alcohol, but this did not stop him from creating new masterpieces.

In 1961, Saint Laurent, with the help of his partner Pierre Berger, created the Fashion House under own name, the first letters made up the logo of the fashion house - “YSL”. A year later, his House presented its first collection to the world fashion market.

The brilliant Yves turned out to be a real haute couture revolutionary; he boldly broke many stereotypes in the fashion world:

• He liked androgynous images (this is when appearance person combines feminine and male characteristics), and he brought skinny models that looked like boys onto the catwalk.
• It was in his fashion shows that black beauties walked down the catwalk for the first time.
• Inspired by the paintings of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, he released a collection in the style of abstract art.
• First in fashion world he suggested that women wear a tuxedo and over the knee boots, introducing a unisex style.

Along with the world of fashion, Saint Laurent also worked as a theater artist. He created costumes for shows and performances, but he was especially attracted to ballet. Yves created the costumes for the ballet Notre-Dame de Paris by choreographer Roland Petit. The inimitable Maya Plisetskaya performed “The Death of the Rose” in a suit from Saint Laurent.

In the early 1970s, Yves launched the production of perfumes under his own brand. The first was the Rive Gauche perfume. They were followed by the iconic oriental scent “Opium”.

Yves Saint Laurent owns many statements that have become aphorisms:

• It’s a paradox, but the genius who worked in the world of fashion believed that it is not clothes that adorn a person.
• Cosmetics on woman's face should be minimal, the most expensive mascara and lipstick should be replaced with love.
• He called the hugs of a beloved man the best outfit for women. But, if there is no such person in a woman’s life, then designers come to the rescue.

Personal life

Yves Saint Laurent never hid his gay orientation. When he was 22 years old, he met Pierre Berger. A business partnership and love affair began between them. Thanks to Berger, billionaire Robinson invested a huge part of his capital in their brainchild - the Fashion House.

In 1976, the romantic relationship ended. Yves Saint Laurent has new love– Jacques de Bocher ( ex-boyfriend Karl Lagerfeld). Pierre could not forgive Yves for his betrayal, but did not break off his partnership with him. They began to live together again after almost thirty years. Shortly before his death, Saint Laurent entered into a same-sex marriage with Pierre Berger.

Since Yves did not like women, he was friends with them. The charming Catherine Deneuve was such a faithful friend to him. She was always proud of her friendship with the brilliant fashion designer and inspired him to new fashion finds. And Yves was happy to pack Catherine’s beauty into his dresses.

At the end of the 1980s, the fashion designer became very ill, was treated for alcoholism and drug addiction. Since 1998, the women's collections of the YSL House have been produced by the young fashion designer Alber Elbaz. At the beginning of 2002, Saint Laurent retired completely from the fashion world. He lived out his life alone with his beloved dog named Muzhik III. On June 1, 2008, the genius of world fashion passed away, regretting only one thing: it was not he who invented jeans...

© Oksana Viktorova/Collage/Ridus

It seemed that he was destined to become what he became. At 13, he was already making dress patterns for his mother and sisters, who gave them to local dressmakers to sew. At 17, he submitted his sketches to a competition for young designers organized by the International Wool Secretariat and won first place.

At an awards ceremony in Paris, he met the then editor-in-chief of French Vogue, Michel de Brunoff, who played a key role in his career. Seeing talent in the shy blue-eyed young man, he advises him to move to Paris and go into fashion.

In September 1954, following the advice of de Brunoff, Saint Laurent moved to Paris and enrolled in courses at the Syndicate of Haute Couture. In November of the same year, he again took first place in the International Wool Secretariat design competition cocktail dress, beating another rising fashion star - Karl Lagerfeld.

In 1955, during one of his meetings with de Brunoff, Saint Laurent showed him his sketches. And he, struck by the similarity of the models with the design of the new collection of Christian Dior, which he saw this morning in the office of the legendary couturier, decides to introduce him to the work of the young artist.

I have never met anyone more talented in my life, de Brunoff would later write.

Dior, seeing Saint Laurent's work, instantly recognizes him as a like-minded person and immediately hires him as an assistant. It won't be long before Dior calls Saint Laurent his right hand, and subsequently his heir.

It was a pleasure to work for Christian Dior, whom I admired endlessly. At that time he was the most famous couturier.<…>He taught me the basics of my craft. I owe him most of my success. Regardless of what happened to me later, I will never forget the years I spent with him, Saint Laurent later recalled.

The Little Prince of French Fashion

In August 1957, Christian Dior told Saint Laurent's mother that he had chosen her son as heir to his fashion empire. The woman was somewhat surprised, because the master was only 52 years old at that time.

A month later, Dior died of a heart attack while on vacation. Italian resort Montecatini. According to his last wishes, Saint Laurent was appointed artistic director of Christian Dior.

So, at the age of 21, Yves Saint Laurent became the head of one of the most influential fashion houses in the world: his products accounted for 50% of exported goods in the high fashion segment, and his staff included 1,400 employees.

Yves did not let his mentor down. The very first collection he created as head of the Christian Dior house in January 1958 created a sensation. The trapeze dresses he proposed laid the foundation for his subsequent revolutionary breakthroughs. The media immediately dubbed him the “little prince” who saved France.

Between 1958 and 1960 he created six collections for Dior.

Expulsion from Dior

In the 60s, clouds gathered over the “little prince”. The instant fame and recognition of the young genius haunted envious people and competitors at Dior. Saint Laurent, to whom Dior left the fashion house, is “unexpectedly” drafted into the army and sent to Algeria, which is at war with France for its independence.

The whole essence of the designer, whose childhood was spent in Oran, Algeria, is opposed to military conflict. 20 days of humiliation from his colleagues were enough for him to fall into severe depression. Young man He is placed in a military clinic, where he is treated for three months with psychotropic substances and electric shock. On top of everything else, he receives a notice that he is fired from Dior.

Saint Laurent struggled with the consequences of such “shock therapy”, which manifested itself in the form of narcotic and alcohol addiction and the depression that developed against this background for most of my life.

Pierre Bejart, who had appeared in his life by that time, saved Saint Laurent from Algerian “captivity” and helped him open his own fashion house, which was doomed to success.

"Living Genius"

In the 60s and 70s, Saint Laurent became the king of radical chic. His revolutionary findings. His first breakthrough was the Mondrian collection, which was inspired by the work of the Dutch abstract artist Peter Mondrian.

In 1966, he created the women's tuxedo, which became a revolution in the world of fashion and served as the basis for the further emigration of typically masculine items into the women's wardrobe.

...It was necessary to take into account the specifics of the time. Women were increasingly involved in activities that required greater freedom of movement... Saint Laurent recalled.

He was the first designer to prove that a woman in trousers is beautiful, creating models that highlight female figure. The first to dare to turn a parka and peacoat into fashionable outerwear. The first to open a line of ready-to-wear boutiques (“Rive Gauche”).

He was always the first and one step ahead, and this step was measured in several decades. Long before Gaultier, he used African ethnic motifs in his collections and was ahead of Lacroix and Gogliano by releasing a collection inspired by the traditional costumes of various nations.

My humble role as a couturier is to create clothes that reflect the times, Saint Laurent declared and every time he proved that he succeeds better than others.

In 1983, at the age of 47, he became the world's first designer to receive a lifetime exhibition at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Recognition of his services to the fashion industry has made him a style icon.

Whatever he does, women all over the world, of all ages, will follow him, said exhibition curator Diana Vreeland, who called Saint Laurent a “living genius” of fashion.

The King's Fate

Well, they “crowned” me. But look what happened to the other kings of France, Saint Laurent said in 1968 - long before critics began to bury his talent as an innovator.

This happened in the 80s, which were marked by the reclusiveness of Saint Laurent: he rarely appears in public, except twice a year for the traditional bow at the end of the shows. There were rumors about his alcohol and drug addiction. At some point, Pierre Berger was forced to publicly declare that Saint Laurent did not have AIDS.

In an interview, Saint Laurent admitted that he once felt so bad that he “wanted to tie the heaviest of his bronze sculptures to his neck” and throw himself into the Seine.

Wealth and fame did not save from addiction and depression.

Fashion critics were quick to declare that the days of Saint Laurent were over and the king “hasn’t created anything new for a long time.” But the 1992 show, which presented the best creations of the fashion house over the 30 years of its existence, proved the opposite.