Yves Saint Laurent- the designer

A towering figure of 20th century fashion, Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, as its elegant headquarters.

From the first YSL tuxedo and his trim pantsuits to see-through blouses, safari jackets and beatnik ensamble, the designer continues to push fashion boudaries whlie never compromising on style. Yves Saint Laurent is synonymouse with elegance, innovation and flair.



Life time partner Pierre Berge has said that Saint Laurent's gift to fashion was that he empowered women after Chanel had freed them. underlined Saint Laurent's statement on equality of the sexes. He showed that women could wear "men's clothes," which when tailored to the female form became an emblem of elegant femininity.
When the designer announced his retirement in 2002 and the closure of the Paris-based haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier, it was mourned in the fashion world as the end of an era.
"More than any other designer since Chanel, YSL represented Paris as the style leader," The Independent of London wrote in an editorial after Saint Laurent's retirement. "By putting a woman in a man's tuxedo, he changed fashion forever, in a style that never dated." In his own words, Saint Laurent said he felt "fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves."