Yves Saint Laurent

Perfumes by Yves Saint Laurent include:

Launched in 1964 Y by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1971 Yves St. Laurent pour Homme

Launched in 1971 Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1977 Opium by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1981 Kouros by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1984 Paris by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1988 Jazz by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1990 Live Jazz by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1990 Eau de Sport by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1993 Champagne (changed to Yvresse in 1996) by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1993 Kouros Fraicheur by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 1993 Jazz Prestage by Yves Saint Laurent sizes include the following:

Launched in 1996 Yvress Legere by Yves Saint Laurent sizes include the following:

Launched in 1996 Opium for men by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 1997 In Love Again by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 1998 Live Jazz by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 1999 Vice Versa by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 1999 Baby Doll by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 2000 Body Kouros by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 2001 Nu by Yves Saint Laurent :

Launched in 2002 Paris LEau de Printemps by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2002 Paris Premieres Roses by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2002 M-7 by Yves Saint Laurent:

Launched in 2002 Opium Eau dEte by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2002 Kouros Eau dEte by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Paris Baby Doll Light by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Paris Baby Doll Summer by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Nu by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Rive Gauche Eau de Toilette (re-issue) by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Opium Satin by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Kouros Cologne Sport by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2003 Rive Gauche pour Homme by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2004 Paris Roses des Bois by Yves Saint Laurent

Launched in 2004 Cinema by Yves Saint Laurent :

Website: www.ysl-hautecouture.com

The early years
On 1st August 1936, Yves Mathieu Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria, where his father worked in insurance. When he was a child, they moved to France.
He designed dresses for his mother and two sisters, while still a teenager.
In 1953, when he was 17, Yves arrived in Paris, and entered the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture School. He entered a competition organised by the International Wool Secretariat, and won first prize with an asymmetrically draped, one-sleeved cocktail dress. Coincidentally, another prize winner in this same competition was Karl Lagerfeld in the coat category.
The chief judge of this competition was Michel de Brunhoff, director of VOGUE. When he saw Yves St. Laurents portfolio, he was surprised to see that this unknown young man was thinking along the same lines as the new A-line collection about to be presented by his friend Christian Dior.
Brunhoff spoke to Dior and said "you must take him on". Dior found him so gifted that he took him on as his assistant. It was the first time that Christian Dior had anyone assisting him in the initial design stage.
One of his most well-known garments is the pea jacket, which was based on a sailors garment worn for hundreds of years.
At this time, Yves designed "bubble dresses" for Dior, gathered into a band at the knees and other dresses. Saint Laurent was original and imaginative in his designs. He impressed Christian Dior immensely and in October 1957 Dior said to his staff " there are 3O designs in my latest collection which are based on Yvess work, he is an exceptional talent, I want him to be recognized. His staff said that YSL was still very young and that he should wait a little longer. Dior said he would bring him out at the next collection. But it was not to be, he died just a few days later.
In 1957 The "dauphin" or "crown prince" became head of the largest Maison de Couture in Paris at the young age of 21.
The Trapeze Line
In 1958 Yves presented his first collection called the Trapeze line. The triangular trapeze shape was the backbone of his collection, and was considered the most important and fully formulated line in Paris. It flared gently from narrow shoulders to a shorter wider hemline just covering the knees. By autumn, the rest of Paris had adopted this length.
The newspapers had banner headlines that day
"St. LAURENT HAS SAVED FRANCE, THE GREAT DIOR TRADITION WILL CONTINUE."
The young designer appeared on the balcony after the show, to receive the cheers of the crowds
YSL presented 6 collections for Dior, although by then the staff at Dior were beginning to get a little upset at what they felt was rather a too flamboyant style for sedate Dior. The clientele however, adored his designs. One person in particular, the Duchess of Windsor bought many of his creations. In 1958, when she was 62, she purchased one of his black rose-covered tulle evening dresses which she afterwards donated to the V&A London permanent costume collection.
The Winter 1959 collection was rather badly received as he raised the skirt to the knees, belted every waist, and pulled the skirt into a tight knee-band. He said "when a new line is greeted with indignation, it is a healthy sign."
The 1960 Spring/Summer collection was BEATNIK, all motorcycle jackets made of alligator skin, mink coats with ribbed sweater sleeves and turtlenecks under finely cut suits. It was highly praised by the public, as one of the most beautiful and youthful collections the house had ever produced. But it caused an uproar with Dior staff and particularly with Marcel Boussac, who controlled the DIOR company. It was felt that YSL had misjudged the staid clientele of Dior.
In 196O YSL left on compulsory military service but suffered a nervous collapse and was discharged. He returned to find that Dior had installed Marc Bohan as the head designer. He was most upset about this and in 1961 he sued for compensation and won 48,OOO pounds. When he received this money, he decided to set up his own salon with his good friend Pierre Berge, who is still with him today. Berge became his alter-ego and business manager, enabling Yves to concentrate on designing beautiful clothes without having to worry about the money side of his affairs.
In 1962 the house of St. Laurent opened on the rue Spontini In a mansion formerly owned by the painter Forain, and Yves started designing and selling his creations exactly the way he wanted to. He chose not to produce a new silhouette every six months, but derived his collections from a treasure trove of sources like theatre, painting, history, etc. Life Magazine calls his first collection "the best suits since Chanel."
1962 His Fall/Winter collection included the Norman Smock, a garment that had its debut more than l,000 years ago, and which has been made by him in countless wearable versions over the years, as a peasant overshirt, a Russian tunic, Chinese coat, artists jacket, or even the jacket for a crisply tailored gabardine pantsuit.
1964 Fluid, no hard lines, no sharp stops, or starts, enchanting tunics, long discreet appealing suits, langorous evening dresses, a return to gracious, beautiful, refined clothes. In this year, he also introduced his first fragrance "Y" for women, which was followed by many others.
1965 YSL presents dresses based on the paintings of Mondrian, geometrically patterned.

1966 YSL dabbled in Surrealism. He designed several striking dresses, decoration of which suggested provocation and sexual innuendo. This year also saw the first appearance of the SMOKING (tuxedo) which became a modern classic.
1966 YSL opened the first Rive Gauche shop in Paris, a tiny shop on the rue de Tournon He was the first Couturier to open a Ready-to-Wear boutique.
1967 The famous velvet knickerbocker suit appeared and his famous "Africa" collection, adorned with shells and beads.
1968 The safari jacket made its first appearance in his "Saharienne" collection of African safari inspired garments, as well as see-through dresses, and the shirt-dress.
1969 The first London Rive Gauche shop was opened. The opulence and extravagance of the Rive Gauche clothes of Yves Saint Laurent have pulled in the clients, who have stayed with him ever since.
The clothes which YSL designed were exquisitely correct for the flamboyant 60s and he was one of the first to use clothes to shock, such as his transparent dress of 1966.
Catherine Deneuve, the exquisite French actress shown here on the right, is YSLs Muse. She is someone who has worn his clothes since he began, and in 1966 he even designed the costumes worn in her most famous film "Belle de Jour". She even today appears in his advertisements for perfume and beauty products.
The Rive Gauche garments included lavish ornate embroidered lace, beaded tunics, satin skirts, above the knee shorts or knickers, wide legged trousers or bias-ruffled overdresses topping trimmed or fringed skirts. Peasant blouses first appeared in bright prints and gypsy skirts. Patterned lame, velvet, tassel trimmings, jet , fur, fringes, rustling taffeta, moire and many other luxurious materials were used by him.
1969 First mans suit for women, which was to be his leitmotif explicitly evoking memories of Marlene Dietrich.
1970 The denim skirt and film costumes for "The Siren of Mississipi".
1971 YSL first Pret-a-Porter collection. His collections feature a 40s look, and the Blazer. The smocking coat is shown as well as what YSL calls the Proust dresses, with big taffeta skirts. In this year, YSL also shocked the world by posing nude to advertise his first mans fragrance "Pour Homme."
1972 Andy Warhol, the Pop artist paints the famous series of multiple- image portraits of Yves St. Laurent.

1974 YSL Couture house is moved to a new building in Paris, 5 avenue Marceau.
1974 YSLs collection featured new youthful look, complete with frizzy hair, clunky wedges, micro-skirts and puffed sleeves.
1975 Espagnole collection
1976 Ballet Russes collection

1977 Moroccan inspired collection in Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter featured a Chinese theme collection.
1978 Gypsy collection
1978 During this year, YSL fell in love with a lab sample of a intense pink lipstick that the technicians had discarded. He insisted on marketing it, and it has been the hottest selling lipstick since then, YSL No 19.
In his 1980-81 collection, Yves St. Laurent paid homage to the great poet and artist Jean Cocteau. One of his garments in this collection, was a pink jacket with a line from a Jean Cocteau poem embroidered on the back. It is shown here on the right.
1981 Marguerite Yourcenar, the first woman to enter the French Academy, is dressed by YSL.
1981-82 His smoking jacket/suit was revived. YSL has often been given credit for rendering the pantsuit presentable. His versions, with jackets evolving from his "smoking" jacket and safari looks combine sharp precise tailoring, with cummerbunds, ruffled shirts, see-through shirts, bow ties and scarves.
1983 The Metropolitan Museum of New York, held an Exhibition displaying 25 years of YSL designs which was a great success.
1988 YSL brought out his collection paying homage to Picassao and Braque, the masters of Cubism and Abstract painting
1989 YSL is the first designer to go public with his house, by putting its shares on the stock exchange.
1990 His homage to Hollywood collection.
1993 Merger-cum-takeover of the St. Laurent group by Elf-Sonofi Co. YSL and Pierre Berger continuing artistic control till 2001.
1998 One hour before the football World Cup in Paris, 300 models present YSL creations before 30,000 spectators and TV cameras from 176 countries.
1999 In March, the YSL Room at the London National Gallery was inaugurated. In May, he places the Pyramidion on the Luxur Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde, in Paris. In the latter part of the year, the International Festival of Fashion was held when 40 years of YSL designs were displayed.
2000 Yves St. Laurent handed over the design of his Rive Gauche Ready-to-Wear line to ALBER ELBAZ, the Israeli born designer.
However, after only one year, Elbaz was replaced as chief designer for Rive Gauche ready-to-wear, by Tom Ford.
YSL STYLE
One of Yves St. Laurents greatest talents is colour - from his Mondrian-inspired dresses to his Ballet Russes collections in the 70s. Some say he is the supreme fashion colourist of this century, unrivalled by any other designer. His colour schemes even clash elegantly.
He repeats what Chanel said, "Fashions change, Style remains." His dream is to give women the foundation of a classic wardrobe, which, by escaping trends, gives them more confidence in themselves.
His Smoking (tuxedo) jacket was a shock when it was introduced in 1966. A woman was banned in the 60s from dining at the Plaza hotel in New York, because she was wearing a YSL pantsuit. His pants and jackets became a statement for a new generation of women, and he said "I want to shock people, force them to think."
The secret to his style (or styles because there are many) is that he creates clothes that make a woman look great and feel the height of elegance.
RETIREMENT
In 2002, Yves has reached the age of 65. It is coming up to a half century since he started designing, and his talent is still limitless. He retains the same shy, nervous personality and every new discovery or experience he faces, makes its way into his clothes. He has stretched the boundaries of couture to the outermost limits and has an astonishing body of work.
But he decided to bid farewell to the world of fashion that he has so loved. January 22nd 2002, was the last couture show of the house of Yves St. Laurent and the house closed after fulfilling the orders from this January show.
His farewell show was a retrospective of all the looks that he has pioneered over the years. Catherine Deneuve, his muse, was by his side to say farewell and all the leading supermodels took part.
Yves said "In many ways I feel that I have created the wardrobe of the contemporary woman and I have participated in the transformation of my era. I have done so through clothes, and I am extremely proud that women the world over today wear pantsuits, smoking suits, pea coats and trenchcoats."
He said, "the best clothing around a woman are the arms of the man she loves, but for all women not so lucky, I am there."
The doors of YSL Haute Couture atelier on the Avenue Marceau in Paris, finally closed on October 31st 2002. Yves said farewell to all his colleagues and workers. The experienced YSL people have now joined other ateliers, 15 going to Azzedine Alaia and several to Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier.
His garments, photos, sketches and portfolios of collections have been transferred to a Foundation set up by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge. The salon itself has been remodelled and made into a museum to show the classics created by him during his career and the priceless pieces of art which inspired him. The first showing will be from March 10th 2004 and will be called "Yves Saint Laurent : Dialogue with Art".

YSL Rive Gauche Ready-to-Wear by Tom Ford
GUCCI bought Rive Gauche in 2001 and Tom Ford has been running it since then. He has designed some fantastic clothes and made the line even more successful than under Yves. He also looks after the accessories and fragrance line. He is shown here on the left, to know more about him click Tom Ford.

Spring/Summer 2003
Tom Ford presented the YSL Rive Gauche Spring/Summer 2003 collection during Paris Fashion Week in October 2002 which was very well received. This is an outfit from that collection.
He took Surrealism as his theme, phallic pendants and nipples painted purple. He drew enamel lips and toenails on garments, trompe loeil wing pattern on an evening cloak and put buttons on breasts. There were some real gems also in the collection also.

Fall/Winter 2003 Ready-to-Wear
Rive Gauche by Tom Ford Fall show, was held during Paris Fashion Week in March 2003.
He mixed a vibrant rich colour palette of bottle green, scarlet, blue and purple along with black and white. He made fur and velvet jackets fastened with a single satin ribbon, over delicate chiffon mini dresses addiang modern glamour to legendary 40s inspired creations.

Oscar Night 2003
For Oscar night 2003, in March, Julianne Moore wore Tom Fords emerald green chiffon dress with emerald drop earrings to match. It is shown here on the right.

Spring/Summer 2004
During Paris Fashion Week in October 2003, Tom Ford showed his YSL Rive Gauche collection for next Spring. A dress from this collection is shown on the left.
Twenties and thirties melded into satins and chiffons. Tom Ford synthesized masculine and feminine elements making reuns of classic smoking jackets, white vests and gowns ready to fall open at the breast at any moment. His vision of Deco glamour with strands of jet beading moving over dark georgette were followed by misty blue chiffon gowns suspended from strings of crystal. One dress was covered in gold coins.
Fall/Winter 2004 ready-to-wear
Tom Ford presented his last collection for YSL Rive Gauche in Paris during Fashion Week in March 2004. Two outfits from the show are pictured on the right, including one split to the waist which gave a Suzy Wong note to the collection.
Tom had his pick of the YSL archives and he chose to close out his decade with the house, with a collection inspired by Yves St. Laurents famous Chinese collection of the 1970s which he used when he launched his controversial perfume Opium.
By taking the silk road, Tom has shown us all what we will be missing after he is gone. It is a very apt collection considering how Chinas future role in global fashion is a current hot topic. His tiny jackets and slim satin skirts, aerated with chiffon at the sides, were beautiful. Chinoiserie prints were everywhere, of course. It was a great finale.

New Designer at Rive Gauche
Tom Ford resigned from Gucci and Rive Gauche a few months back. In March 2004, it has been announced that the new Creative Director at YSL Rive Gauche is Stefano Pilati, (born 1965) shown here on the left. Stefano has been working under Tom Ford for four years and since 2002 has been Design Director at YSL. He started his career with an internship at Cerruti, taking his first job with a velvet garment maker in Milan. From 1993 he was with Armani, and from 1995 with Prada, designing their Miu Miu line. His first collection for Rive Gauche will be for Spring 2005, to be shown in October 2004.
Pilati has been meeting Yves St Laurent very respectfully, and Yves is pleased that he is taking over.
Spring/Summer 2005
During Paris Fashion Week in October 2004, Stefano Pilati showed his YSL Rive Gauche collection for next Spring. An outfit from this collection is shown on the right.
It is not at all easy to follow a genius like Tom Ford, but Stefano managed to place his own style on the catwalk and modernize the traditional YSL look. Daywear included tulip skirts and polka dot jackets, a safari suit made a direct reference to Yves followed by a pastel selection of chiffon dresses. Pierre Berge seemed happy in the front row, and the companys new CEO Robert Polet congratulated Pilati enthusiastically. A new era has begun.

Autumn/Winter 2005
Stefano Pilatis Autumn/Winter collection for the house of YSL Rive Gauche was shown during Paris Fashion Week in March 2005. The designer is now getting into his stride, and beginning to show clothes which keep the spirit of the house, while also showing us his own unique vision. White choirboy collars rising up the neck as if in a Fklemish painting were delicate and pretty. Skinny tuxedo jackets with white blouses, loose lapels worn with cropped pants appeared. He said he wanted something rich with restraint. Francois Lesage, Paris principal embroiderer pointed out the intricate delicacy of a fine cashmere shawl embellished with patterns in white astrakhan. It was a stand-out of the show.