June, 21st, 2012

Paris | 1962 – 2012 : YVES. NOT SAINT LAURENT.

Yves Saint Laurent was founded by designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé in 1962, and the current logos were designed in 1963 by Le Smoking suit.

Some of his most memorable collections include the Pop Art, Ballet Russes, Picasso and Chinese ones. He also started mainstreaming the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, ‘30s and ’40s. He was the first, in 1966, to popularize ready- to-wear in an attempt to democratize fashion, with Rive Gauche and the boutique of the same name. He was also the first designer to use black models in his catwalk shows. Among St. Laurent’s muses were Loulou de La Falaise, the daughter of a French marquis and an Anglo-Irish fashion model, Betty Catroux, the half-Brazilian daughter of an American diplomat and wife of a French decora tor, Talitha Pol-Getty, who died of drug over dose in 1971, and Catherine Deneuve, the iconic French actress. Ambassa dor to the couturier during the late 1970s and early 80s was Lon don socialite millionairess Diane Boulting-Casserley V andelli, making the br and ever more popular amongst the European jet-set and upper classes.

In 1993, the Saint-Laurent fashion house was sold to the pharmaceuticals company Sanofi. In the 1998-1999 seasons, Alber Elbaz, currently of Lanvin, designed 3 ready- to-wear collections.

Pierre Bergé appointed Hedi Slimane as Collections and art Direc tor in 1997, and they relaunched YSL Rive Gauche Homme. Hedi Slimane decided to leave the house 2 years later. In 1999, GUCCI bought the YSL br and and asked Saint-Laurent would design the haute couture collection. In 2002, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, Saint-Laurent closed the illustrious couture house of YSL. While the house no longer exists, the br and still survives through its parent company Gucci Group. The prêt-à-porter line was produced under the direction of Stefano Pilati after PPR’s PPRFrançois-Henri Pinault and Paul Deneve announced that Hedi Slimane will replace Stefano Pilati at the helm of the br and. On June 21, 2012, the br and would be renamed SAINT LAURENT PARIS.

Alas the br and prestige was all in “YVES” not SAINT LAURENT. The “affordable” is not “aspirational”…

L’Édi tor