Yves Saint Laurent story of life and brand. Yves Saint Laurent - brand history
1. In 1957, when Saint Laurent had just turned 21, he became the head of the Christian Dior fashion house after the death of the designer. Yves went down in history as the youngest director of a fashion house.
2. Yves Saint Laurent was the man who introduced several “masculine” elements into a lady’s wardrobe - a tuxedo, thigh-length boots and stylish leather jackets.
3. One day, on one of the radio stations, an announcer announced that Saint Laurent had died suddenly. Crowds of fans and journalists rushed to the designer's house. What a surprise they were that the designer was alive and well! Yves himself often recalled this story and said that he had never seen so many surprised and frightened faces in his life.
4. The designer never believed that clothes make a person. According to him, a woman’s personality determines her style and individuality, but not fashion trends. As for cosmetics, there should be a minimum of it. Saint Laurent believed that love could replace the most expensive lipstick and mascara. The most stylish outfit for the lady the couturier called hugs loving person. And if there is none in a woman’s life, designers will come to her aid!
5. The couturier was distinguished by his wayward character and unusual views on many things. For example, in at a young age he very often posed naked in front of photographers. In addition, he became the first designer to invite black models and models to show his models. This was a real breakthrough in modeling business and the world of fashion!
6. Yves admitted that he regrets only one thing in life - that he did not invent jeans. As for dresses, the designer often repeated: the main thing in a dress is the woman who wears it.
7. In 1966, Saint Laurent first presented to the public his future “hit” - Le Smoking, which became the first ever female version of a tails suit. Then women completely changed their idea of fashion. Yves Saint Laurent did not stop at one tails suit: he began to introduce different models suits into women's wardrobes, which won their sympathy. In addition, Saint Laurent became the only famous designer sixties, which opened own boutique, where he sold not only evening dresses, but also casual clothes for women.
Photo: Yves Saint Laurent with actress Catherine Deneuve and ballerina Maya Plisetskaya
8. Yves's first creation, which gained popularity all over the world, was a trapeze dress. At first, it was worn only by film stars of the fifties - Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and other actresses. Gradually famous dress“migrated” to the wardrobe of all fashionistas in the world.
9. Everyone has always known that Saint Laurent adhered to an unconventional sexual orientation. However, not everyone knows that shortly before his death he married designer Pierre Berger. However, this could not be called a full-fledged marriage. In 1999, the so-called Civic Solidarity Pact was introduced in France. Unfortunately, it represented minimal rights for same-sex partners. Berger later said that this was a purely symbolic event for both designers. They had known each other for too long to attach importance to this event. great importance. Berger and Saint Laurent met back in 1958, and three years later the designers founded the Fashion House " Yves Saint Laurent."
Photo: Yves Saint Laurent and supermodel Claudia Schiffer
10. When Saint Laurent turned 60, he realized that he could no longer work with the same enthusiasm as before. He worked until 2002, and then staged a farewell show - a fashion show at the Pompidou Center. He took the stage with his muse, actress Catherine Deneuve. When she sang a song for Yves, he could not hold back his tears. A few months later he sold the fashion house, but the Yves Saint Laurent brand lives to this day.
Yves Saint Laurent Saint Laurent) – this name is known to everyone, even those who are not familiar with the world of high fashion. He was a great fashion designer, fashion artist, a man who changed the course of the history of the fashion industry.
The brilliant fashion designer Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in 1936 in Algeria, in the city of Oran. His family were hereditary lawyers, but the boy was only interested in working with fabric. Even in at a young age he created sketches and sewed doll-sized dresses.
When the family of the future fashion designer moved to Paris, by that time Yves had graduated from school and began working part-time as a clothing designer and stylist. He was a regular participant in design competitions. In 1953, he managed to take third place in one of these competitions and met the editor-in-chief of the French division of Vogue magazine.
He advised Yves Saint Laurent to enroll in a design course, and after some time introduced him to the famous fashion designer Christian Dior. A year later, the young designer showed his first collection at a fashion competition in Germany and won three out of seven awards, beating up-and-coming German young designer Karl Lagerfeld. From that moment on, a long-term rivalry between the two fashion designers began.
Yves Saint Laurent. Fashion designer career
Christian Dior took on 19-year-old Laurent as his junior assistant at the House of Dior. While working under the guidance of the maestro, Yves Saint Laurent created sketches of exquisite accessories, which he showed to Dior. From year to year, more and more sketches were realized and demonstrated on the podium.
Yves Saint Laurent was 21 years old when Christan Dior died. He takes the place of mentor and becomes the chief designer of the House of Dior. Becoming an heir legendary fashion designer, Saint Laurent presents its first collection. He introduced the “trapezoid” shape, which freed the women’s wardrobe from excessive pretentiousness and a strict waist. This became a revolution in fashion, and the press wrote about this event that “the great traditions of the House of Dior continue to live” even after the death of the head of the company.
At that time, Yves Saint Laurent came stunning success. However, thanks to his rebellious spirit, his career was doomed to ups and downs. In 1960, the fashion designer presented his new collection called Beatnik. The main attributes of the show were luxurious mink coats with narrow knitted sleeves, suits with turtlenecks and short leather jackets. It was defiantly luxurious, but the House of Dior was not ready for such changes.
Dior's overly conservative management fired Yves Saint Laurent and hired another designer in his place. This was a strong blow for him, which Pierre Berger helped him cope with. Together they also managed to sue a huge sum for illegal termination of the contract with the House of Dior. It was Pierre Berger who was destined to become Saint Laurent's friend, support and lover for life.
After Yves Saint Laurent left Dior, he joined the army, but the fragile and sensual guy could not stand even a year and ended up in the psychiatric ward of a military hospital, which broke him. But even here Pierre Berger came to the rescue.
With the money won in court, Saint Laurent opens his own fashion house, Yves Saint Laurent. From this moment it began great story under the sign of three golden letters - YSL.
Today there are 7 distinctive looks of the YSL House:
1. Mondrian dresses with a characteristic decor in the form of large colored cells
2. Safari style
3. Woman suit tuxedo style
4. Pantsuit
5. Thin transparent shirt
6. Long and loose skirt combined with a caftan (“Russian Seasons”)
7. Ethno-African motifs in clothing
In 1966, the first YSL Rive Gauche pret-a-porter boutique opened. It was the first boutique of its kind in the history of the fashion industry. Everything was displayed there: clothes, jewelry, accessories and perfume. The Yves Saint Laurent fashion house began to generate millions in revenue and turned into an empire.
But since the late 80s, trademark Yves Saint Laurent has begun real crisis. I had to sell part of the shares to third-party companies, which had a very bad effect on the quality of execution. Suffering from multiple illnesses, drug addiction and an unhealthy lifestyle, Yves Saint Laurent handed over the leadership of the company to fashion designer Albert Elbaz, and then left the fashion world to lead a secluded lifestyle and rarely appear in public.
The legendary fashion designer and designer Yves Saint Laurent died on June 1, 2008 in Paris. He had brain cancer.
Yves Saint Laurent. Personal life
The talented fashion designer devoted almost his entire life to haute couture. He was almost always busy drawing sketches and creating new models. In his spare time, Yves loved to pose for his friend's paintings. He could also often be found in fashionable clubs.
While still young, Yves Saint Laurent became addicted to grass and soft drugs. This greatly affected his well-being and health. Perhaps, with a different lifestyle, he would still be alive today.
The fact that he was in a psychiatric hospital also had a strong impact. The fashion designer suffered from manic-depressive syndrome, he was very worried about it, and it caused him a lot of suffering.
The love of the couturier’s life has always been one single man - Pierre Berger.
This man helped him in literally everything; they lived, worked and rested together. One day Berger cheated on him with a fashion model. Laurent responded by betraying him with Jacques De Bascher. After this they separated, but continued to work together.
Yves Saint Laurent, born on August 1, 1936 in Algeria, was supposed to practice law, but thanks to the support of his mother, in 1954 he went to Paris, to school at the Syndicate of Haute Couture.
Almost immediately after admission, he presented a cocktail dress at one of the competitions for aspiring designers. Yves Saint Laurent shared his first victory with Karl Lagerfeld - they were the ones who got the prize.
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Saint Laurent's talent was noticed, and a year later he became Christian Dior's assistant and at the same time an apprentice tailor at the house of Christian Dior.
What followed was a rapid career - Yves Saint Laurent, who took the place of art director of the House after the death of Christian Dior, presented his first collection, for which he received the prestigious Neiman Marcus Oscar. It was in this collection that trapeze dresses could be seen for the first time - one of the first innovations of Yves Saint Laurent.
The morning after the show, the newspapers were full of headlines: “Yves Saint Laurent saved France, the Dior tradition will be continued!”
In 1960, Yves Saint Laurent was drafted into the army. But the hardships of military service turned out to be psychiatric department military hospital, where he was treated with shock therapy and tranquilizers.
Yves could not speak and weighed only 40 kg when Pierre Berger appeared in his life. He became for Saint Laurent not only a lover, but also a loyal friend and assistant in business. It was he who ensured that his ward was released from the army, and helped the young designer found his own fashion house, Yves Saint Laurent, in January 1962.
Four years later, the designer introduced Le Smoking to the world - female version tailcoat suit. The tuxedo not only instantly won the hearts of women, but also completely revolutionized the fashion of that time.
Yves Saint Laurent began to actively introduce the trouser suit into the lives of women. In the same year, the designer opened his first boutique, Rive Gauche, named after what was then considered a refuge for anarchists on the left bank of the Seine, making another revolution - the store sold everyday clothes, in no way inferior to evening clothes.
Thus, Yves Saint Laurent democratized haute couture.
At the same time, androgynous models appeared at Saint Laurent’s shows and photo shoots – the kind we see on the catwalks now.
Skinny girls with their hair combed back, they demonstrated feminine strength and capabilities. The trend was supported by Karl Lagerfeld, and Helmut Newton sang them in his numerous photographs, which later also turned into classics.
By 1970, Saint Laurent was also credited with inventing the peacoat (1962), sheer blouses (1966) and overalls (1968).
The designer loved to use transparent materials, for which he was repeatedly attacked. The invention of the pea coat became a unique symbol of the House of Yves Saint Laurent, reflecting the master’s ability to mix high fashion, art and everyday things, turning them into legend.
Among Saint Laurent's countless inventions is the safari-inspired jacket, which became a sensation. His African (1967) and Russian (1976) collections are still considered one of the most important in the history of fashion and one of the best in the designer’s work.
It was Yves Saint Laurent who introduced the fashion for stunning evening dresses, experimenting with them, but never forgetting about femininity and grace. Special attention deserve Wedding Dresses YSl.
In January 2002, Yves Saint Laurent retired due to numerous health problems. A few months earlier, he had broken both arms during a trip to Palermo and lost the main pleasure of his life - the opportunity to draw.
Subsequently, the designer’s health deteriorated, and he practically stopped attending social events.
IN last minutes On Sunday morning, his friends were with him - Pierre Berger, muse Betty Catroux and Philippe Mougnier, who took care of Saint Laurent's health Lately. Catherine Deneuve arrived minutes after his death on June 1, 2008.
In memory of the great couturier as part of the Sundance Film Festival, which takes place annually in winter at the famous American ski resort Aspen, in 2009 two films were shown at once - the work of the French cinematographer David Teboul called Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times and the picture Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris.
Both films are dedicated to the life and work of the legendary designer.
The beginning of the story of Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint Laurent was born in Algeria, but the political and economic situation that developed there did not give the future fashion designer rest and creative development. So he moved to Paris, closer to beauty and fashion. There he got a job as an assistant to Christian Dior himself. He drew inspiration from his mother, such a gentle and always charming woman.
Yves Saint Laurent in
After working for Dior for several years, he gained fame in Paris. On the fly, he could draw a sketch of a dress, shape the style of a blouse, skirt and trousers, and make the image unique. In their early years at one of the parties he met.
As everyone knows, the designer is gay; he has never hidden his non-traditional sexual orientation.
The film was based on the memoirs of the fashion designer’s close people, such as Pierre Berger, Karl Lagerfeld, Laurence Heroil.
Further in the film, after the death of Christian Dior, our hero took over the post of creative director of the Fashion House. He worked on sketches day and night, feeling proud and, at the same time, afraid whether he could maintain the former popularity of the fashionable Home Christian Dior. The chief editors of fashionable American and French glossy magazines called the couturier a “naughty child” in their circles. At the Christian Dior fashion house, all the models loved him, went with Yves to clubs and restaurants, and accompanied him to social events.
Yves Saint Laurent image
The designer always bowed to the public after shows in a strict black suit, this was his business card. The film clearly depicts the image of Yves Saint Laurent, right down to his unique gait.
The Life of Yves Saint Laurent
The designer devoted his entire life to art and fashion; he constantly drew sketches of clothes. IN free time he loved to pose for an artist friend who painted him. The fashion designer relaxed in clubs, and over time, he became hooked on them. Each successful show in the evening was accompanied by cheerful, incendiary parties at his home or in a social establishment.
At the same time, he was accompanied by models, who in the 70s almost all smoked weed and used soft drugs. Couturier also began to use them, which subsequently greatly affected his health.
The designer's favorite model for many years was Victoria, then they had a fight and at one of the parties he met another model girl named Betty.
With popularity, problems began to appear in the life of the couturier. One was the army. Since the fashion designer was born in Algeria, he began to be called up to serve in the national army, although at that time he had already lived and worked in Paris for a long time. Arriving in Algeria, the locals reacted negatively to the couturier, as they knew about his non-traditional sexual orientation.
Against the backdrop of experiences and suffering, he developed manic depression, the fashion designer was put in prison. psychiatric clinic. After receiving some treatment there, he came out with a calm soul, ready to work and create, draw and craft. beautiful clothes. But another blow happened - he was kicked out of Christian Dior. His boyfriend sued Roger (the owner of the Dior house) and the fashion house itself.
Personal life of Yves Saint Laurent
Personal life of Yves Saint Laurent - main topic film. His love was imbued with life. His main love was Pierre Berger, a businessman and public figure, with whom he later opened his fashion house. But more on that later. She and Berger lived together, worked and rested together. But he was much freer than Pierre Berger. Loved parties handsome men and fun.
Soon after the opening of Yves Saint Laurent, the lovers began to have scandals and quarrels. Pierre Berger cheated on his beloved with his fashion model Victoria. Having learned about this, the fashion designer kicked her out of the Fashion House and out of his life.
At one of the parties, he met Jacques De Bascher, the boyfriend and love of Karl Lagerfeld’s life. They began dating secretly, and later everyone knew about their romance. This was Laurent’s outlet, he understood him, was just as vulnerable and gentle. He confessed to Berger about his infidelities. They broke up, but throughout the designer’s life and until the end of his days they were together, helped each other, empathized, worked and worked on the Yves Saint Laurent brand.
Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berger open their own brand “Yves Saint Laurent”
Lovers Pierre Berger and Yves Saint Laurent have the opportunity to open own brand"Yves Saint Laurent" They prepared a team, there were many ideas, sketches drawn by the fashion designer, and their own “YSL” logo appeared (in June 2012 it was renamed “SLP” - Saint Laurent Paris).
“Impeccability as a way to compete with Chanel,” journalists wrote about the first Yves Saint Laurent show. But he did not despair and continued to create fashion. Yves often said about himself that youth was passing him by.
The last years of Yves Saint Laurent's life
IN last years Throughout his life, the fashion designer was very ill; his numerous affairs with men, his unconventional lifestyle, and drugs took their toll. Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008.
Here is such a film that “shocks the minds of mankind.” In my opinion, there is too little fashion in this whole story.
This man's full name is Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent. Born in colonial Algeria, into a wealthy French family. The father of the future couturier dreamed of a career as a lawyer for his son, especially since Yves studied well at school. But the younger Saint Laurent was not happy with this prospect, and he found an ally in his mother. He doubted which one professions will do he prefers to be a theater artist or a fashion designer. When the young man was in high school, his mother, the beautiful Lucienne, brought her son to Paris for the first time. Using her connections, she organized a meeting for her son with Michel de Brunoff, editor-in-chief of Paris Vogue. After getting acquainted with Saint Laurent's sketches, Brunoff realized that the young man definitely had the gift of a fashion designer who needed further development.
After graduating from school (in 1954, he was then 18 years old), Yves came to Paris, entered fashion school and in the fall of the same year participated in a competition for young fashion designers. As a result he won Grand Prize for a sketch of a cocktail dress with an unusual asymmetrical neckline. By the way, the young German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who participated in the same competition, took the prize for the coat he designed.
Michel de Brunoff continued to participate in the fate of his protégé - he regularly looked at his sketches, gave advice, introduced him to the right people. One day Yves brought in a series of fresh sketches, and de Brunoff was extremely surprised to see a striking resemblance to the sketches for the collection of his friend Christian Dior, although Dior had never shown it before general public. De Brunoff called the great couturier and convinced him to meet with Saint Laurent. The result of this significant meeting for the 18-year-old fashion designer was an invitation to work at the house of Dior. Yves Saint Laurent's work was appreciated, and very soon he became right hand masters Soon he declared him his heir. In September 1957, Dior went on vacation, leaving the fashion house in the care of Saint Laurent. Happened at Dior heart attack, as a result of which his life was cut short, and he never returned from vacation.
Saint Laurent slightly modified the traditional Dior style and in January 1958 presented his first independent collection to the public. He proposed new shift dresses with a loose silhouette. Newspapers immediately announced that the 21-year-old fashion designer had saved French fashion. Success new collection led to an immediate 35% increase in sales for the house of Dior.
However, clouds soon began to gather over the young couturier. The owner of the Dior house, textile magnate Marcel Boussac, doubted creative direction, chosen by Yves Saint Laurent. Many conservatives were wary of the experiments " little prince"by crossing high style with more democratic street fashion. The public's delight subsided: she greeted the next five collections much more calmly.
In 1960, Saint Laurent was taken to military service. There were rumors that Boussac had arranged for him to be drafted into the army. But Saint Laurent spent only two weeks there: the shock of the sudden change in situation caused a severe nervous breakdown. The result was two and a half months of the fashion designer’s life in a Parisian mental hospital. This time did not pass without a trace for his career. Returning to Dior's house, Saint Laurent discovered that the management had found a replacement for him in the person of another young genius - Marc Bohan. Yves was offered a new, more modest position: he had to monitor compliance with the terms of licenses issued by the company in England. Saint Laurent was offended by these changes in his absence. He filed a lawsuit against the house of Dior, winning $24 thousand. This money became the foundation on which he decided, together with his friend Pierre Berger, to found own house models. Berger also enlisted the support of American millionaire Mack Robinson, who allocated money to promote the new enterprise.
The official opening of Yves Saint Laurent's own fashion house happened in December 1961. At the same time, the couturier said: “I moved from the world of fabrics and proportions to the world of silhouettes and lines.” This is how the democratic ready-to-wear fashion began.
Paris was eagerly awaiting the first collection with the YSL logo with bated breath. Many predicted failure, but the gloomy forecasts did not come true - the show ended with an ovation, everyone was happy.
Since then, Yves Saint Laurent's career has taken off again. Almost every year he proposed new ideas, which ultimately changed the modern fashion. Among his innovations are a raincoat jacket, which appeared in 1962, vinyl raincoats - in 1965, and women's raincoats in 1966 pantsuits, peacoats, striped T-shirt dresses and the famous ladies' tuxedos. It was a real revolution in women's wardrobe. IN next year His collection included safari-style suits with patch pockets, jumpsuits and, as an alternative, sheer dresses.
Since 1966, Saint Laurent began to release every year, in addition to two collections of exclusive haute couture clothing, two more collections of ready-to-wear Rive Gauche. He was the first to predict that the ready-to-wear market would eventually become the leading sector of the fashion industry. Saint Laurent’s success is best explained by the words of Coco Chanel, who, like Christian Dior, proclaimed him her successor: “Everyone thinks about the transience of fashion, but Yves Saint Laurent thinks about modern clothes for a woman of the second half of the 20th century." This practicality led Saint Laurent to financial success, which, however, turned out to be short-lived.
Thanks to the entrepreneurial talents of Pierre Berger, the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house turned into a multimillion-dollar empire in the 70s. Profits were brought not only by clothing, but also by related products - perfumes, Jewelry, bags. As for perfumes, Opium became one of the best-selling perfumes of all time, glorifying both the YSL brand and its ideological inspirer. But since the late 80s, a crisis began at YSL. To improve matters, Pierre Berger began actively selling licenses to use the YSL brand to third-party manufacturers. Illegibility in business connections led to the fact that the famous brand was shredded, its image in the eyes of buyers was blurred, losing its exclusivity. Saint Laurent and Berger still had one more trump card - support French President Mitterrand. Under his pressure, in 1993, the state-owned Elf-Sanofi acquired a significant stake in Yves Saint Laurent and began investing in it. But the change of power at the Elysee Palace deprived the company of this easy income.
Then, for several years in a row, YSL operated at a loss, and the company's losses continued to grow: from $700 thousand in 1999 to $70 million in 2001. The true scale of YSL's problems only became apparent after French billionaire Francois Pinault bought a controlling stake for $1 billion in 1999. Another $70 million was paid to Berger and Saint Laurent for the right to use the YSL brand in the pret-a-porter line. Haute couture collections (two a year) remained the domain of the maestro.
To restore the dying model house, Pino threw his strike forces- Italian businessman Domenico de Sole and American designer Tom Ford. Just a few years ago, this couple became famous for managing not only to revive another legendary company, Gucci, from the ashes, but also to grow it into a worthy competitor to the LVMH holding, owned by sworn enemy Pinault to Bernard Arnault.
Speaking about the new ideologists of the YSL brand, it is worth noting that Tom Ford is an energetic, businesslike, even aggressive person by nature. In many ways, he is the complete opposite of the nervous, emotional, suffering from frequent depression Yves Saint Laurent. This dissimilarity explains a lot, including the fact that it became difficult for them to get along in the same model house. An agreement was concluded between Ford and Saint Laurent on non-interference in each other’s affairs, but an equal alliance still did not work out.
In January 2001, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé pointedly ignored the show of the first ready-to-wear collection created by Tom Ford for YSL. Moreover, the next day, both, as if nothing had happened, appeared at the debut show of Hedi Slimane from the rival house Christian Dior. His appearance did not go unnoticed, because before that the fashion designer had ignored other people’s shows for about ten years. At the same show, television crews managed to film sensational footage of a conversation between Yves Saint Laurent and Bernard Arnault, during which the couturier complained about life and said that he felt deceived. And now, a year later, the maestro announces that he has decided to finally leave the “fashion business.” Although this news was expected, it still became a sensation. “Today I decided to say goodbye to the world of fashion, which I loved so much...” said 65-year-old Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most famous personalities in your profession. The real reason for this was insurmountable disagreements with the owner of the Yves Saint Laurent company, Francois Pinault. Saint Laurent read out a prepared speech and left, leaving Pierre Berger to explain himself to journalists. He hastened to assure the press that his friend’s departure was not related to any pressure from Francois Pinault.
The YSL brand will continue to exist, but there will no longer be haute couture collections with that name - for this Saint Laurent thanked Pinault, who allowed the master to end his career gracefully. Francois Pinault has already announced that he will try to save as many jobs as possible, but he has not given any guarantees to anyone. The fate of the 158 employees who worked with Saint Laurent remains unclear, as does future life the fashion designer himself.
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