Yves Saint Laurent Biography

Yves Saint Laurent biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Yves Saint Laurent
OCCUPATION: Fashion Designer
BIRTH DATE: August 01, 1936
DEATH DATE: June 01, 2008
PLACE OF BIRTH: Oran, Algeria
PLACE OF DEATH: Paris, France
Full Name: Yves Henri-Donat-Mathieu Saint Laurent

Best Known For

Yves Saint Laurent was best known as an influential European fashion designer who impacted fashion in the 1960s to the present day.

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Yves Saint Laurent

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Yves Saint Laurent. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/yves-saint-laurent-9469669. Accessed Jun 18, 2013.

His signature pieces also included the sheer blouse and the jumpsuit.

Later Years

By the 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent was a true icon. He became the first designer to have a retrospective on his work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Under the direction of Berge, who continued to manage Saint Laurent's firm even though the two had broken up in 1986, the fashion house flourished as a money making venture.

But Saint Laurent struggled. He became reclusive, and fought addictions to alcohol and cocaine. Some in the fashion world complained that the designer's work had grown stale.

In the early 1990s, Saint Laurent found firmer footing. His designs were rediscovered by a fashion elite that had grown tired of the grunge movement that dominated the runways. Saint Laurent, too, seemed to have conquered his demons. By the end of the decade, with Saint Laurent slowing down his work pace, he and Berge had sold the company they'd started, netting the two men a fortune.

In January 2002, Saint Laurent participated in his final show and then retired for good in Marrakech. Five years later, Saint Laurent's imprint and importance on French culture was cemented when he was appointed Grand Officer of the Legion d'honnerur by French President, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Yves Saint Laurent passed away in Paris on June 1, 2008 after a brief illness.