Yves st laurent
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (Oran, Algeria, August 1, 1936-Paris, France, June 1, 2008), known simply as Yves Saint Laurent, was a French fashion designer and entrepreneur, considered one of the leading designers of the second half of the XX century. He is considered the creator of the women's tuxedo in the 1960s, the promoter of the revival of haute couture in the 1980s, and one of the first to include non-Caucasian models in his shows.
Biography
Early Years
He was born in Oran, then a French colony in Algeria, into one of the richest families in the city. His father, a descendant of a French baron, was president of an insurance company and owner of several movie theaters. His maternal grandmother was Spanish.
In Algeria, World War II and the Nazi occupation of France seemed like distant events, and they did not have much impact on the lives of Yves Saint Laurent and his family. As a child he liked to play Molière characters and avidly read Vogue magazine. He was attracted to the world of theater designs and made dresses for his mother and his sisters. Due to his peculiar character he suffered bullying, which he tried to overcome by promising himself: "Someday I will be famous."
In 1950, Saint Laurent sent three designs to Paris, to a contest organized by the International Wool Secretariat. She was in third position, and went to receive the award accompanied by his mother. Her designs surprised Michel de Brunhoff, editor-in-chief of Vogue , who recommended that she study at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture . Saint Laurent listened to him and after graduating in Oran he moved to Paris.
In 1951 he participated again in the International Secretariat contest, and this time he won, defeating a young Karl Lagerfeld. He referred more designs to De Brunhoff, who saw in them similarities to an established designer: Christian Dior. The head of Vogue sent these designs to Dior, who instantly saw Saint Laurent's talent and decided to add it to his workshop.
Beginnings with Christian Dior
At the age of 18, she started working at Dior, although her initial tasks were rather mundane: decorating the studio and designing some accessories. Surprisingly, Christian Dior chose her as his successor as the house's chief designer. Saint Laurent and his mother were shocked by Dior's decision, who seemed too young to retire. He would die of a heart attack that same year.
In 1957, at the age of 21, Saint Laurent became the youngest couturier in French haute couture. His spring 1958 collection was resoundingly successful, continuing the New Look style coined by Dior. This success helped rescue the firm from a bankruptcy that seemed certain. In 1959, he was chosen by Farah Diba to design the dress for his wedding to the Shah of Iran. But Saint Laurent's subsequent creations drew harsh criticism, and his career at Dior was interrupted in 1960, when he was called up for French military service, coinciding with the war of independence. the Argelia. Saint Laurent had eluded the military until then thanks to the influence of Dior owner Marcel Boussac, and it has been conjectured that when Boussac wanted to do without him, he pulled the necessary strings to be called up.
Saint Laurent lasted just 20 days in the army. Due to the humiliation inflicted by some colleagues, he suffered a stress attack and was admitted to a military hospital. There he learned that the Dior house did not reserve the job for him and that he had rather dispensed with it; This news worsened his emotional state and he was admitted to the Val-de-Grâce psychiatric hospital, a center sadly known for his aggressive therapies. Saint Laurent suffered electroshocks and was administered sedatives and other drugs, a grim stage that helps explain his later emotional problems and addictions.
At the end of 1960, Saint Laurent left the mental hospital and, upon returning to Paris, found that he had been replaced at the Dior house by Marc Bohan, a designer who was closer to the ladylike style. (old-fashioned feminine) that was sought. Saint Laurent sued the company for non-material damages with the help of his friend Pierre Bergé, and with the money received, added to the financial support of Atlanta businessman J. Mack Robinson, he created his own couture house.
YSL House Foundation
This couturier's first collection, Ligne Trapéze (French for 'trapezium line') took place on January 29, 1962 and became an instant success. The image and company logo (a monogram superimposed with the initials YSL) are the work of French graphic designer Cassandre in 1961, Pierre Bergé's collaboration was essential for Saint Laurent to build a solid company. Although they broke off their romantic relationship in 1976, they continued to live in the same house and collaborate, and Bergé was the essential support that allowed Saint Laurent to continue creating and overcome their emotional crises.
His collections in the 60s stood out for the incorporation of the tuxedo into the women's wardrobe and for the implementation of prêt-à-porter as a complete commercial line; in fact, he was the first haute couture creator to present a line in this new category of fashion. In 1966 he opened his first store that sold ready-to-wear , located at 21 Rue de Tournon: Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. He was also the first designer to incorporate women of color as models in his shows.
Collaborations in film and theater
He designed sets and costumes for films and plays such as Cyrano de Bergerac and The Pink Panther, collaborating with Roland Petit, Claude Régy, Jean-Louis Barrault, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Alain Resnais (Stavisky, 1974), Jean Marais, Zizi Jeanmaire, Arletty...
She dressed film divas such as Jeanne Moreau, Claudia Cardinale (La panthère rose, 1963) and Isabelle Adjani, and made Catherine Deneuve a style icon and personal muse.
Ups and downs
His designs never left critics indifferent. The Mondrian-inspired fall 1966 show caused a sensation, but other offerings were not spared from negative reviews. In 1971 Saint Laurent launched a collection inspired by French collaborators during the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940s that was slaughtered because it was understood to glorify the times of Nazi occupation ("that he did not know") and “ugly post-war utilitarianism.”
The demands of production in haute couture and prêt-à-porter (two collections a year in each category) caused her increasing stress, which she fought with alcohol and drugs. In 1987 he suffered a misstep in criticism following a failed show in New York; he displayed $100,000 jewel-appliquéd jackets just days after a financial crack rocked the city. Since then, he has been delegating the design of the ready-to-wear to assistants, and this range of his production barely retained strength among his fans.
The brand Saint Laurent caused another scandal in the last stage, when to promote a masculine perfume they resorted to a frontal nude photograph, where a model posed with visible genitalia; It was the first (and only) image of this type that is remembered within advertising with a global reach.
Saint Laurent was also known for his worldly side; he went to nightclubs like Studio 54 , and was a regular user of cocaine. When he quit drugs, he added another, more innocuous addiction: he drank several liters of Coca-Cola a day. His intimate life was something to talk about, although his partner Pierre Bergé always supported him and helped to ensure that the company did not sink even in the worst moments of the designer.
Saint Laurent and art
.jpg)
Saint Laurent and Bergé assembled an important art collection in their mansion at 55 rue Babylon in Paris, thanks in large part to the financial success of the perfume Opium (1977), the most sold in the world.[citation needed] They acquired works such as an important portrait of Goya that belonged to the Rockefellers (El niño don Luis María de Cistué) and a wooden sculpture by Constantin Brancusi (currently only three remain in private hands). They added paintings by many other artists such as Frans Hals, Cornelis de Vos, Ingres, Géricault, Picasso, Fernand Léger, Giorgio de Chirico, Édouard Vuillard, Edvard Munch, Matisse and Mondrian, as well as drawings and watercolors by Manet, Paul Klee, Paul Gauguin., Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Alberto Giacometti and Cézanne. At a later date, the couple stated that "with current prices, we can no longer continue to buy."
His fondness for art led him to 'pay homage' to masters such as Mondrian —with dresses that reproduce their motifs—, Picasso, Matise, Braque, Bonnard, Léger. An exhibition in La Coruña (February 2008) illustrated this influence on their work, displaying their designs alongside works of art that inspired them. In 2022, five major Parisian museums—the Louvre, Pompidou, Picasso, Orsay, and Modern Art—presented a major joint exhibition titled 'Yves Saint Laurent in museums'
Retired in 2002
Yves Saint Laurent announced his retirement from fashion design and the catwalk in January 2002. He was disappointed in mainstream fashion, which he felt was cornering artistic ambition in favor of mere profit "like making curtains for windows".
Death and estate auction
Yves Saint-Laurent passed away in Paris on June 1, 2008, at the age of 71, after suffering from cancer.
Saint Laurent's funeral was attended by then French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, who had worked as a model for many years with the firm; as well as important fashion personalities such as Valentino, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell Catherine Deneuve and Farah Diba.
After the designer's death, his art collection dispersed; His partner Bergé commented that such a group had been formed as a project of the two that, when Saint Laurent died, had lost its meaning. A three-day auction was held between February 23 and 25 at the Grand Palais in Paris by the firm Christie's. Of the 733 lots, 730 were sold for a total of 373 million euros, money that went to a foundation and the fight against AIDS. The aforementioned Goya portrait was excluded from the sale to be donated to the Louvre Museum, and Bergé kept some works by Andy Warhol (portraits of Saint Laurent and his favorite dog). Interestingly, one of the few lots that did not find a buyer was Picasso's painting Musical Instruments on a Table, the painting with the highest valuation. On the contrary, a painting by Mondrian was acquired for the future Louvre Abu Dhabi museum.
In May 2009, it has been rumored that the former home of Saint Laurent and Bergé on Babylon Street could be acquired by President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni as their new residence.
In 2010, various drawings by Saint Laurent dating from the 1970s and 1980s were found, including a nude portrait of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, possibly made in Munich, Germany in 1984.
Later influence
Saint Laurent has gone down in history as the first fashion designer to have exhibited in a museum, the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He created, with Pierre Bergé, a foundation for the custody and dissemination of his creative legacy.
Biographical Documentaries
- David Teboul: "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times" (2002)
- "Yves Saint Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris" (2002)
- Pierre Thoretton: "L'Amour Fou" (2009)
Contenido relacionado
Robert musil
Johannes Vermeer
Alexander Beliavsky