YVES SAINT LAURENT PASSED AWAY

Manresa, 3 jun 2008.


Yves Saint Laurent, considered by some people the greatest fashion designer of the 20th Century, has died in Paris at the age of 71.

Yves Saint Laurent - one of the most influential fashion designers of his generation was an institution for decades in the world of high fashion. "One of the greatest names of fashion has disappeared; He died on Sunday 1 Jun 2008 at his home in Paris from a brain tumour. The first to elevate haute couture to the rank of art," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy. YSL made Paris the fashion capital of the world. Born in the Algerian city of Oran at a time when the North African country was a French colony.
His name and the familiar YSL logo became synonymous with all the latest trends, highlighted by the creation of the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear label and perfume, as well as astute licensing deals for accessories and perfumes. Saint Laurent's success lay in the harmony he achieved between body and garment -what he called "the total silence of clothing. " He was also in the right place at the right time. Having learned his trade at the house of Dior, he founded his own couture house at the start of the 1960s, at a time when the world was changing and there was a new appetite for originality. Saint Laurent rode his luck through the rise of the youth market and pop culture fuelled by the economic boom of the 1960s, when women suddenly had more economic freedom. Saint Laurent changed the face of the fashion industry when he became chief designer of the House of Dior at 21.
Yves Saint Laurent, was one of a handful of designers who dominated 20th century fashion, on a par with Christian Dior, Coco Chanel. He retired from haute couture in 2002.