YVES SAINT LAURENT
Before I even get down to the life and glory of french fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, I might as well tell you how I first found out about his clothing line. Well, for starters it’s not one of those, “my rich parents came back from Europe and my father bought my mom a $5,000 crocodile skin purse”, it’s more like I was on the train and the woman standing next to me admitted to spending a whole years rent on some leather. I remember it being one of those afternoons in Manhattan where everyone on the train finds their own designated corner of self loathing. As per norm I took to the corner seat nearest the vestibule. People usually don’t bother the guy at the corner seat. Then again whether it be on the train or the line in front the halal cart, there’s always going to be that one person who finds a way to drag you into their misery. Except this time it happened to be a rather gorgeous young lady entering from on Bleecker/Broadway-Lafayette Street station. For whatever reason she chose my peaceful two seat corner to prop her four behemoth sized shopping bags. They all read Saint Laurent Paris on them. At the time I remembered distinctly asking myself what happened to Yves Saint Laurent, the shopping bags just read Saint Laurent Paris. I waited until the next stop to try and make eye contact with her. The train finally stopped at Spring Street. I came within shoulder distance of her and asked her if the old company was bought over or something. She smiled politely and said ,“no it’s the same company, but the new creative director got rid of the old name.” I thought to myself that’s a rude way to start things off at a new company. But, then again a lot of things these executives do in the fashion world have their own degree of peculiarity. Naturally I asked her how much she spent that afternoon on her visit to the store. The response to this question will leave no doubt in your mind that Manhattan is filled with people who seem to have nearly endless pockets. She graciously replied, “I bought four handbags and a leather jacket, but the total for all of them was $12,900.”
Who Is Yves Saint Laurent?
Yves Henri Donat Matthieu Saint Laurent was born on August 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, to Charles and Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. In his youth he lived in a villa off the coast of the Mediterranean with his two younger sisters Michelle and Brigitte. Yves grew up in a relatively well off family, his father was a lawyer and insurance broker who owned a chain of cinemas. However, Saint Laurent’s childhood was very rough. As a boy he found it hard to fit in with his schoolmates who labeled him as a homosexual. As a result, Saint Laurent was a rather nervous and shy child. He would constantly fake sickness not to attend his lessons. Saint Laurent wasn’t like all the other boys his age, he grew up with a fondness for creating intricately designed paper dolls. His peculiar ability to craft dolls developed into a passion, he would later move on from designing dolls to creating dresses for both his mother and sisters. When Saint Laurent was 17 his mother took him to meet the editor of Vogue magazine, Michael de Brunhoff who quickly realized Saint Laurent’s talent.
Work With Christian Dior
Almost a year later, Saint Laurent, who had impressed de Brunhoff with his drawings, moved to Paris and enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, where his designs quickly gained notice. De Brunhoff also introduced Saint Laurent to designer Christian Dior, a giant in the fashion world. “Dior fascinated me,” Saint Laurent later recalled. “I couldn’t speak in front of him. He taught me the basis of my art. Whatever was to happen next, I never forgot the years I spent at his side.” Under Dior’s tutelage, Saint Laurent’s style continued to mature and gain still more notice.
The Rise Of Yves Saint Laurent
Over the next two decades, Saint Laurent’s designs sat atop the fashion world. Models and actresses gushed over his creations. He outfitted women in blazers and smoking jackets, and introduced attire like the pea coat to the runway. His signature pieces also included the sheer blouse and the jumpsuit.By the 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent was a true icon. He became the first designer to have a retrospective on his work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Under the direction of Berge, who continued to manage Saint Laurent’s firm even though the two had broken up in 1986, the fashion house flourished as a money making venture.
The Iconic Style
Yves Saint Laurent distinguished himself by creating modern classics. He embraced contrast — the masculine and the feminine, highbrow and lowbrow, the classic and the modern — to create sharp pieces that are still relevant. We can credit this visionary with the women’s le smoking suit, the safari jacket, the Mondrian shift, and the bolero jacket, to name a few. He took traditionally male silhouettes and transformed them into womenswear, empowering women to dress in a new and bold way. These pieces were daring, new and different. And that is how classics are born.
The Renaming of Yves Saint Laurent
In 2012, creative director Hedi Slimane opted for the complete rebranding of every single Yves Saint Laurent location. The name of changed to just Saint Laurent Paris. Along with the name change, it began a new and gothic era for Saint Laurent. Hedi Slimane’s rebranding has been said to of driven the revenues for the brand to extraordinary heights. It marked the end of an era and the birth of the modern day Saint Laurent rockstar. The introduction of a whole new line of harness boots and motorcycle jackets began to draw a completely new crowd, we saw a shift from the classical luxury aura to a more dark and twisted vintage rocker being debuted at Paris Fashion Week. Everything ranging from leather chained boots to vampire studded lips on the back of motorcycle jackets. It was clear that the brand had become the biggest modern day gothic styled fashion house.
The Legacy Of Yves Saint Laurent
For all the money we’ve thrown away over the years on designer apparel, the one thing us fashion lovers can agree on is that we’re drawn to these luxury houses as part of a means to sustain our inner rockstar. Whether it be $1095 for a paid of Saint Laurent Wyatt boots, or $350 for a one of their graphic tees, we’ve come to love and accept the brand for all it is and all it’s worth. We don’t really need that many pieces to look great, all it really takes is one thing to catch our eye and forever fall in love with. We’ve seen Saint Laurent grow over the years from one style of bohemian garments to the next style, that’s how it will always be with Saint Laurent from the years to come. The way how Yves Saint Laurent left the fashion house it the way how it will continue to grow, an innovator in modern style, and a commune for us rockstars to pick and choose what piece truly defines us. Also, I probably forgot to mention whatever became of that situation where I learned about Saint Laurent’s stores by meeting that stranger on the train? Well, two years later and I’ve managed to somehow end up with two pairs of boots and a t-shirt.
-DebonairScentNYC.
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