06/02/2008
Fashion Legend Yves Saint Laurent Dies in Paris
Fashion legend and brilliant master of couture Yves Saint Laurent died at his apartment in Paris on Sunday at the age of 71. Some excerpts from the NYT obit:
* "Mr. Saint Laurent achieved instant fame in 1958 at the age of 21 when he showed his Trapeze collection, his first for Christian Dior following the master’s death. But unlike many overnight sensations, Mr. Saint Laurent managed to remain at the top of his profession as fashion changed from an emphasis on formal, custom-made haute couture to casual sportswear."
* "In September 1961, Mr. Saint Laurent announced plans to open his own haute couture house in partnership with his lover, Pierre Bergé (pictured, right, at the announcement of YSL's retirement). Mr. Bergé remained his lifelong business partner and was responsible for the company’s financial success, although they split up as a couple in the early 1980s."
* "Among his greatest successes were his Mondrian collection in 1965, based on the Dutch artist’s gridlike paintings, and the “rich peasant” collection of 1976, which stirred so much interest that the Paris show was restaged in New York for his American admirers."
* "By 1983, when he was 47, his work was recognized by fashion scholars as so fundamentally important to women’s dress that a retrospective of his designs was held at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first time the museum had honored a living designer. Diana Vreeland, the legendary magazine editor and the doyenne of the Costume Institute, who masterminded the exhibition, called him “a living genius” and 'the Pied Piper of fashion.'"
* "'Every man needs aesthetic phantoms in order to exist,' Mr. Saint Laurent said at the announcement of his retirement. 'I have known fear and the terrors of solitude. I have known those fair-weather friends we call tranquilizers and drugs. I have known the prison of depression and the confinement of hospital. But one day, I was able to come through all of that, dazzled yet sober.'"
Saint Laurent's cause of death was reportedly a brain tumor. In recent years he had been hospitalized and in 2006 had a public collapse on a Paris street following one of the show's of the fashion house that bore his name.
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 7:33 AM EST by Andy in Deaths, Fashion Men, News, Paris , Yves Saint Laurent | Permalink
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API says that the cause of death was from a brain tumor, the info was from his business partner and former lover.
Posted by: johnny | Jun 2, 2008 8:01:02 AM
I hope that YSL ("Whyzil," as pronounced by the Manhattan gays) is finally at peace. I cannot recall encountering a more sociophobic person.
At the risk of venturing into PeterParker territory [*wink*wink*], I remember running into YSL in the bathroom at "Studio" in 1978, where I was working the private launch party. I was one of the legions of dancers/cater waiters, while attending Julliard. He was hiding away, smoking furiously (never less than three Gitanes lit at one time) and trying to make himself "invisible". (As my rudimentary "ballet French" convinced me.) Yet, he beckoned me to sit with him to block anyone else from seeing him. (As if a dancer weighing 115 pounds dressed in approximately one-quarter yard of gold Spandex loin cloth was capable of secluding anything!)
He was so charming one-on-one and invited me to "visit" him on his yacht the next day. I still have the silk scarf he gave me, but, more importantly, memories of an "only in New York" evening and a wonderful afternoon spent with one of the truly talented giants of the last century. It was quite a heady experince for an "innocent country lad" fresh off the cattle ranch he had called home for seventeen years. (Yeah, I am probably the oldest living [yet still semi-mobile] Towleroadie.)
I do not believe it exaggerating to say that his vision changed how we view the world around us.
May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Posted by: rudy | Jun 2, 2008 9:47:46 AM
Not to mention how sad we feel vis-à-vis YSL's lost.
However, Rudy's story above easily proves people like YSL will live forever through their talent and, avobe all through the memory of their noble "être véritable".
Thank you Rudy for sharing such a wonderful souvenir.
Posted by: St Loup | Jun 3, 2008 11:29:09 AM