From see-through blouses to power pantsuits, Yves Saint Laurent tore up the rulebook, put women in control, and sparked a style revolution. Step inside the story of a designer who transformed women’s fashion and discover how his legacy continues to shape the way we dress today.
The Paris Dress, 1983 (pictured above)
A childhood shaped by style
Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born on 1st August 1936, in Oran, Algeria, auspiciously at the height of Leo season. His family had carved out a golden life in the desert of what had been a French colony since 1830; his mother, Lucienne, had the dressmaker visit once a week and little Yves would sit in on all her fittings. He was shy, loved to draw, and was, by most measures, adorably pretentious, inviting his mother and sisters to haute couture presentations that he staged with paper dolls. He was hero-worshipped at home, but school was a different story. Yves was impossibly tall and gangly, nervous, and horribly bullied; he developed anxiety that haunted him throughout his life.
Emblaz’s homage to YSL’s 1968 sheer blouse, 1998
Winning Paris & Dior’s attention
Winning the International Wool Secretariat’s design competition at the age of 18, up against six thousand anonymous contestants, changed everything. He flew to Paris with Lucienne, nervously accepted the awards (he was the only person to win two), and went on to meet a fashion contact of his father’s, to show off his winning sketches. When they walked past 30 Avenue Montaigne, Christian Dior’s legendary maison de couture, he said, “Maman, it won’t be long before I’m working in there”, or so the legend goes.
It would have been the sign of an insufferable ego had it not turned out to be true. Years later, Yves not only worked closely with Christian Dior, but he also took over the maison after the surprise death of the grand couturier himself. Through all his nervous anxiety, Yves had steely self-belief.
Yves was the world’s most famous and loved fashion celebrity of the 1970s and early 1980s, creating a series of iconic styles and a community of muses, artists and performers, securing Paris its position as the epicentre of cool.
Le Smoking, 1996
The youngest head of couture
At the age of 21, and after just a short time at Dior, Yves Saint Laurent became the world’s youngest head couturier overnight; his Spring/Summer 1958 haute couture collection saved the house and was perfectly pitched, a respectful continuation of Dior’s work but with Yves’ youthful approach.
That same week he agreed to have dinner with Pierre Bergé, the confident industrialist, eight years his senior. They fell in love and were living together within months; Yves had met the man who would transform him and his work into the world’s most legendary and beloved luxury brand, and Pierre had met the man he could make king. It wouldn’t be easy, and there would be challenges along the way (Yves’ other Dior collections were not as universally loved), but they would do it together – and they did.
Building the Yves Saint Laurent empire
They opened their own haute couture maison in 1960 and built their forever brand from there. Yves was the world’s most famous and loved fashion celebrity of the 1970s and early 1980s, creating a series of iconic styles and a community of muses, artists, and performers, securing Paris its position as the epicentre of cool.
The Lou Lou, 2017
The pressure behind the brilliance
As the pressure of maintaining the top spot grew, Yves’ anxieties turned into addictions and periods of reclusiveness; when his star shone the brightest, he would often be struggling with his own demons in the dark. But there were golden summers in Marrakech, feuds and fights with Karl Lagerfeld, endless parties, and art purchases. There was also the artistry of Pierre’s investments, and the tireless energy of Yves’ creativity. He closed the brand’s haute couture business in 2002, with a retrospective fashion show that captivated Paris, if not the world.
A legacy beyond the runway
Yves Saint Laurent passed away in 2008, but the brand goes on. Yves’ ashes were scattered at his beloved Majorelle Garden in Morocco, and in 2017, just before his own death, Pierre opened the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech: the perfect way to commemorate the man he made king.
Discover how women’s fashion was transformed and style redefined in Yves Saint Laurent: Style Icon by Dan Jones, published by Quadrille. Illustrated by Sandra Su.
This article was originally published under the title Dressed to Disrupt in Issue 42 – Time Will Tell. You can purchase previous issues and enjoy more enchanting content here.
