St Laurent

European fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent, was born on August 1, 1936 in Oran, Algeria. His family was relatively well off, since his father was a lawyer and insurance broker who owned a chain of cinemas—however Yves Saint Laurent still had a sad childhood. He was bullied a lot in school for appearing to be homosexual. This led him to be a nervous child and sick every single day. His escape of reality was the fashion world.

He loved to create paper dolls and designed dresses for his mother and sisters. At the age of 17, he left for Paris where he met the editor of French Vogue, Michael de Brunhoff. Yves Saint Laurent showed his drawings to Brunhoff - who published several of them immediately. Yves Saint Laurent was then introduced to Christian Dior, and worked along his side until Christian Dior’s death in 1957. This helped his style to grow and get more noticed.

Yves Saint Laurent took over as art director for Dior and launched his first collection for the company the same year as the Ligne Trapéze. It was such a huge success that it got him a Neiman Marcus Award.
After completing his National Service in 1962, he opened his own fashion house with partner and lover, Pierre Bergé.

In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent introduced le smoking, the legendary smoking suit. His other legendary creations included the reefer jacket, the sheer blouse, and the jumpsuit.
By the 1980s, Yves Saint Laurent was a true fashion icon.

In 1998, he launched his last ready-to-wear collection for the Rive Gauche label at the Stade de France . He continued to carry his haute couture untill 2002. In that same year, he presented his last show and an emotional Yves Saint Laurent took his final bow and retired for good in Marrakech.

He passed away at the age of 71, on June 1, 2008 due to an illness.
Successors of Yves Saint Laurent were Alber Elbaz, Tom Ford, Stefano Pilati, Hedi Slimane and since 2016 Anthony Vaccaarello .