by Olga Barsky
Fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent, 71, passed away late Sunday in his Paris home from a rumoured brain tumour.

More than a fashion designer, Saint Laurent was an artist and innovator whose fearless attitude and social consciousness set him apart from his peers. Among his many accomplishments, Saint Laurent democratized fashion by making prêt a porter reputable with his Rive Gauche line, and resurrected haute couture from the Sixties slump.

Most notably, the YSL brand came to personify the emerging independent woman. How exciting it must have been for Saint Laurent to shock and awe his French bourgeois customers by accosting them with leggy models rocking masculine trouser suits on the runway. Also known as Les Smoking Suits, sophisticated and comfortable, they revolutionized daywear and proved Saint Laurent’s savvy in understanding the woman – body and attitude. Unlike many fashion house greats of the 20th Century – Chanel, Balenciaga, and Dior – YSL sought to reassure and modernize the woman, as opposed to branding her silly and sending off to work dressed like a cake.

A man who designed to the beat of his own drum, Saint Laurent broke many a boundary in his quest to politicize the world of fashion. The designer was among the first to use black models on the runway. "He made me proud of my colour," said supermodel and muse of the designer, Mounia in a French radio interview. What’s more, Saint Laurent was the first ever living designer to be honoured by the Metropolitan Museum of Art which devoted an entire show to his work in 1983.

Yves Saint Laurent was born August 1, 1936 in Oran, in what was then French Algeria. With a portfolio full of sketches, he left home at age 17 and before long was working for French designer Christian Dior, who hired him on the spot. Following Dior’s death, the 21-year-old designer took his place, saving the house from financial ruin and embarrassment. It was during his Dior era, that Saint Laurent was propelled to stardom with his first solo collection, in which he nixed girdles and other constrictive women’s apparel in favour of the effortlessly simple trapeze dress.

The designer’s ‘trapeze line’ was met with much enthusiasm and he became a darling of the fashion world almost immediately. Following his success, Saint Laurent was called to serve in the French Army during Algerian War of Independence. After serving a handful of weeks, unable to cope with the stresses, he was institutionalized and later sent home, only to learn he’d been replaced at Dior.

Taking matters into his own hands, Saint Laurent started his own label YSL in 1962, which was financed by his man friend (at the time) Pierre Berge. In addition to creating beautiful clothes, Saint Laurent also found time to get into a little bit of trouble. In 1971, the designer decided to pose in the buff, wearing only his trademark thick rimmed black reading glasses, in an ad for his perfume.

Saint Laurent remained with YSL until his retirement in 2002, at which point he frankly addressed past daemons, "I’ve known fear and terrible solitude…tranquilizers and drugs, those phoney friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I’ve emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."

Here’s what Robin Kay had to say about the designer:

“My most thrilling ensemble in the late 70s/early 80s was an Yves St. Laurent black, taffeta two-piece cocktail frock that belonged to a friend’s society mother.  This was really in the days of pre-label mania, but I loved the fact that this oh-so-elegant French designer was the stylist of the suit. I have great memories of my chic appearance wearing his clothes.

In 2002, there was a rather controversial biography created on Monsieur St. Laurent which I presented at L’Oréal Fashion Week.  It was accompanied by the director, the film and him ALL en francais.  Language barrier not with standing, it had a huge impact on our journalists.

This was a style-changing designer who’s efforts in the world of fashion came at a time that re-wrote fashion history, turning a corner with women’s fashion. “Le Smoking,” as the evening jacket was referred to, was headline news in North America.  It offered women the style and comfort of a men’s suit with the sexiness of a plunging décoloté.  Monsieur St. Laurent  started a true fashion revolution! Brilliant!”

Robin Kay
President, Fashion Design Council of Canada
Executive Director, L’Oréal Fashion Week