Yves St. Laurent

By The Twirlit Team on November 26th, 2008

Yves Saint Laurent was born in August of 1936 in Algeria to a prominent family in Oran (a French colony). It is said that Yves gained much of his fashion sense and love for couture from his mother. The oldest of the Laurent children, Yves was often bullied in school, due in part to his eccentric personality. As a boy, Yves found solace at home where his parents encouraged his creativity and allowed him to explore his imagination. He first gained an interest in fashion via the venue of the theater. His love of theater costumes led him to his first design project.

In the year 1950, Yves won third place in a contest organized by the International Wool Secretariat. Shortly thereafter, the editor of Vogue magazine suggested Yves attend a study course at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, advice that Yves welcomed and eagerly followed. However, a a few months into his training, Yves became frustrated with his course syllabus and left school. Shortly thereafter, Yves entered the International Wool Secretariat competition again and this time won first place.

Yves Saint Laurent’s talent for design sketch, which was strikingly similar to that of Christian Dior, earned him a position working under Dior himself. Yves worked his way of up the ranks and finally began sketching for the Dior Couture line. In 1957 Dior elected Laurent to become his design successor. Most people thought the transition would remain decades away, as Dior was still young at the age of 52. Shockingly however, as if by premonition, Dior passed away later that year while at a health spa in Italy. The event left Yves Saint Laurent the sole designer for the House of Dior at the ripe old age of 21.

Within the next year, Yves launched into international fame by softening Dior’s newest line and creating the well known “trapeze dress”. Yves began to become known simply as “Saint Laurent”. However, his success was short lived after that first season, and after being ‘crucified’ the following year, Yves was conscripted into the military in 1960. He lasted a whopping 20 days in the military before ‘stress’ landed him in the hospital. During his hospital stay, Laurent learned he had been fired from Dior –the news drove him into a mental institution. However, upon his release from the hospital later that year, Yves sued the House of Dior for breach of contract and won.

Shortly thereafter, Yves Saint Laurent, along with his lover, started their own house of fashion, which has remained successful for the last four decades. Yves was also credited as the first designer to use African American and Asian runway models.

Yves himself retired in the year 2002 and succumbed to his own mental anguish, becoming increasingly reclusive over time. In June of 2008, mere days after his ‘same sex union’ to his partner Berge, Saint Laurent died of brain cancer. He is survived by his sisters and his mother, to whom much of his estate was left.