About Yves St Laurent
In
the wake of his nervous breakdown, Saint Laurent was released
from Dior and started his own label together with Pierre Bergé
with the now-famous initials of YSL. During the 1960s and
1970s the firm popularized fashion trends such as the beatnik
look, tweed suits, tight pants and tall, thigh-high boots,
including the creation of arguably the most famous classic
tuxedo suit for women in 1966, the Le Smoking suit. Among
his 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 decorator, Talitha Pol-Getty, who died of drug overdose
in 1971, and Catherine Deneuve, the iconic French actress.
Ambassador to the couturier during the late 1970s and early
80s was London socialite millionairess Diane Boulting-Casserley
Vandelli, making the brand 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 for approximately $600,000,000. In 1999 Gucci
bought the YSL brand and Tom Ford designed the ready-to-wear
collection while Saint-Laurent designed the haute couture
collection. Since his retirement in 1998 Saint-Laurent has
become increasingly reclusive and has spent a much of his
time at his house in Marrakech, Morocco.
In
2002, dogged by years of poor health, drug abuse, depression,
alcoholism, criticisms of YSL designs, and problems with lead
designer Tom Ford, Saint-Laurent and Gucci closed the illustrious
couture house of YSL. While the house no longer exists the
brand still survives through its parent company Gucci.
The
pret-a-porter line is still being produced under the direction
of Stefano Pilati after Tom Ford retired in 2004, while the
boxer briefs sold all over the world still carry the brand
name.
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