Yves Saint Laurent
Brand
Yves Saint Laurent, better known as YSL, is a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé in 1962. It has grown to be one of the greatest names in the fashion industry today as a result of the line’s groundbreaking designs and innovative pieces of clothing. As a young man Laurent always had a passion for fashion. In 1950, he submitted three sketches to a contest for young fashion designers organized by the International Wool Secretariat winning third prize. That year he was invited to attend the awards ceremony in Paris. While there he met Michel de Brunhoff, editor-in-chief of the Vogue Paris at the time. He suggested Laurent consider a course of study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture which regulated the haute couture industry and provided training to its employees. Laurent followed his advice and began his studies at the Chambre Syndicale only to find the syllabus for the courses frustrating. He left after a few months. Once again, Laurent entered the International Wool Secretariat competition and won after beating out his friend Fernando Sanchez and a young student named Karl Lagerfeld. Shortly after his win, he brought a number of sketches to De Brunhoff who recognized close similarities to sketches he had been shown that morning by Christian Dior, a leading haute couturier. Knowing that Dior had created the sketches that morning and that the young man could not have seen them, De Brunhoff sent him to Dior immediately. Dior recognized his talent, and a year later was allowed to submit sketches for the couture collection which with every passing season, were accepted by Dior. In August 1957, Dior met with Yves's mother to tell her that he had chosen Yves to succeed him as designer. His mother later said that she had been confused by the remark, as Dior was only 52 years old at the time. Both she and her son were surprised when in October of that year Dior died at a health spa in northern Italy of a massive heart attack. At the young age of 21 Yves found himself as the head designer of the House of Dior. His Spring 1958 collection saved the House from financial ruin and catapulted him into international stardom with what would later be known as the 'trapeze dress'. This dress had narrow shoulders and flared gently at the bottom. At the same time, Yves Saint Laurent shortened his surname to "Saint Laurent" because the international press found his hyphenated triple name difficult to spell. His fall 1958 collection was not greeted with the same level of approval, as his later collections for the House of Dior featured hobble skirts and beatnik fashions, which were all disapproved by the press. In 1960 Saint Laurent found himself conscripted to serve in the French Army during the Algerian War of Independence. Saint Laurent lasted twenty days in the military before the stress of hazing by fellow soldiers led him to be sent to a military hospital where he received the news that he had been fired by the House of Dior (who was financially owned by Marcel Boussac, a powerful press baron). This merely added fuel to the fire, and he ended up in Val-de-Grâce, a French mental hospital. After his release from the hospital in November 1960, Saint Laurent sued Dior for breach of contract and won. After a period of convalescence Saint Laurent and his lover, industrialist Pierre Bergé, started their own fashion house with funding from Atlanta millionaire J. Mack Robinson. During the 1960s and 1970s, the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik look, safari jackets for men and women, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots, including the creation of arguably the most famous classic tuxedo suit for women in 1966, known as “Le Smoking” suit. Laurent also started mainstreaming the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, '30s and '40s as he was the first French haute couturier to come out with a full ready-to-wear line in 1966 titled ‘Rive Gauche’. On September 26, 1966 the first of the company's Rive Gauche store opened on the Rue de Tournon in Paris and its first customer was Catherine Deneuve. Many of his collections were received rapturously by both his fans and the press while other collections raised great controversy, such as his spring 1971 collection which was inspired by 1940s fashion. Some felt it romanticized the German Occupation while others felt it brought back the ugly utilitarianism of the time. During the 1960s and 1970s Saint Laurent was considered one of Paris' jet setters. The read-to-wear line became extremely popular with the public but after a disastrous 1987 ready-to-wear show in New York City, which featured $100,000 jeweled casual jackets only days after the "Black Monday" stock market crash, Laurent turned over the responsibility of the line to his assistants. The line remained popular with his fans but was soon dismissed as "boring" by the press In 1983, Saint Laurent became the first living fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a solo exhibition. In 2001, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Légion d'Honneur by French president Jacques Chirac. After his retirement in 2002, he became increasingly reclusive living at his multiple homes. He also created a foundation with Pierre Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing. In 1999, the Gucci Group (the luxury division of the PPR Group) acquired Yves Saint Laurent which as a result has since repositioned the brand at the top end of the luxury goods markets. In the 1998-1999 seasons, Alber Elbaz (currently of Lanvin) designed 3 collections and the house asked Tom Ford to design the ready-to-wear collection while Saint-Laurent would design the haute couture collection. In 2002, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, Saint-Laurent closed the illustrious couture house of YSL. While the house no longer exists, the brand still survives through its parent company Prada. Under the management of Valérie Hermann, appointed CEO in 2005, and Stefano Pilati, Creative Director since 2004, the brand has renewed the exceptional legacy of its founder while bringing a contemporary approach to its collections. Among his muses were Loulou de la Falaise, the daughter of a French marquis and an Anglo-Irish fashion model, as well as Betty Catroux, the half-Brazilian daughter of an American diplomat and wife of a French decorator, and Catherine Deneuve. Nicole Dorier was a top model of the House between 1978 and 1983 and then became one of the master's assistants dedicated to organizing his runway shows and then the "memory" of his house when it became a museum. Additionally, supermodel Laetitia Casta was the bride in his shows from 1997 until 2002. Laurent, who appreciated the beauty of diversity in women and fashion, was also the first designer to use African America models in his runway shows as well as one of the first to use Asian and Pacific Islander models. In October 2007, YSL redesigned their brand website which now allows US patrons purchase men's and women's ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, and accessories online. The selections vary and only a limited number of items are available for purchase. Sadly on June 1, 2008 Laurent passed away of brain cancer at his residence in Paris, but his legacy of innovative fashion still remains very present in the industry. Today Yves Saint Laurent’s collections include women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, shoes, handbags, small leather goods, jewelry, scarves, ties and eyewear. The Yves Saint Laurent network currently has 63 directly-operated stores, including flagship stores in Paris, New York, London, Milan, Hong Kong and Tokyo. The brand is also present in the most prestigious multi-brand boutiques and department stores in the world.
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