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.

Fashion Designer Yves Saint Laurent Hospitalized

Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has been admitted to the American Hospital in Paris, WWD reports:

"Pierre Bergé, the legendary couturier's partner, said Saint Laurent was 'not doing well' and that he was beset with respiratory trouble. Saint Laurent also is having difficulty walking. Bergé, visibly emotional as he left the Quincy restaurant here after dinner Wednesday with close friends, including Betty Catroux, said doctors had yet to diagnose Saint Laurent's current health woes. Saint Laurent, who has long suffered from neuroses and often acute depression, retired from fashion in 2002 and has since led a somewhat secluded life. Poor health has limited his mobility and physical activities, including his ability to sketch."

He is expected to be released in the coming days. If you'll remember, the designer suffered a similar scare last October, collapsing after a Paris show of the label that bears his name.

Designer Yves Saint Laurent Collapses on Paris Street

Hours after his label's Thursday night runway show in Paris, Yves Saint Laurent collapsed on the street. He was quickly rushed to the hospital by medics.

A spokesman for the designer said that he has checked out of the hospital, and is home recuperating.

Yves Saint Laurent came out publicly to the daily French newspaper Le Figaro in 1991, although he met Pierre Bergé, the man who would become his partner and fund the opening of his couture house, in the mid-50's.