Interesting Facts About Yves Saint Laurent

2023 Author: Henry Pass | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 21:12

Yves Saint Laurent lived a long and eventful life: in 71 years he became a favorite student of Christian Dior, at the age of 21 he headed his fashion house after the death of the couturier, and then founded his own brand, giving women tuxedos, jackboots, trench coats and trapeze dresses, complaining only that he did not have a chance to come up with jeans.

We suggest recalling significant events in the life of a French fashion designer, which reveal even better the full power of his talent and personality.

Puppet show

Yves made his first steps as a fashion designer thanks to home theater productions. An 11-year-old teenager "fell ill" with the theater, and three years later began to create puppet shows: he collected costumes from everything that came to hand - paper and rags, and he did not know how to sew then, so he painstakingly glued the details of the images. Saint Laurent was inspired by the work of Manet, Matisse and Velazquez, setting up his own versions of plays by Moliere, Bernard Shaw and Jean Cocteau.

Favorite student of Christian Dior

The mother of our hero, Lucien, noticed her son's interest in fashion and unquestioningly bought everything her son asked for: albums, brushes, fashion magazines, which they happily leafed through and discussed their favorite images. Lucien supported her son when he decided to participate in a creative design competition and won it, and then ventured to move to Paris to graduate from the fashion school at the Chamber of Haute Couture. After his studies, his sketches fell into the hands of Christian Dior himself, and the couturier immediately took the young man to work.

At first, in the presence of Dior, Yves was mercilessly shy and could hardly pronounce short phrases, and his position as an assistant was far from the world of high fashion: he was instructed to think over the decor of the studio and work on accessories. Then, more and more often, the sketches of the young Willow began to fall into the collections of the house, and Dior himself began to read the assistant as his successor, but unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 1957. And 21-year-old Saint Laurent became the artistic director of the House of Dior.

Bonjour, USSR

Fotobank

Saint Laurent named his first collection as head of Dior "Trapezium": when creating it, he drew inspiration from Russian costume and, honestly, from women's sundresses. In just two weeks, Yves drew over 600 sketches, and then presented the finished collection on January 30, 1958 - she was greeted with great enthusiasm.

With his "trapeziums" Saint Laurent managed to look behind the Iron Curtain and became the first French designer to show his creations to the citizens of the USSR. In June 1959, a plane landed at the Moscow airport, which delivered 120 suitcases with clothes and shoes, 500 liters of perfume (luggage was insured in advance for 10 million francs) and 12 unearthly beauties along with the 22-year-old designer of the House of Christian Dior … Already on the ladder of the plane, the models descended "at the parade", and then they also went for a walk around Moscow, striking passers-by on Red Square and in GUM and presenting them with armfuls of flowers, not forgetting to pose for Life photographer at ease.

Mental hospital

In 1960, the future French legend was drafted into the army and sent to military service in Algeria. Ives's endurance lasted exactly twenty days, followed by a nervous breakdown and demobilization. Saint Laurent had to recover his nerves in a psychiatric hospital for three months, and even under the tutelage of the "caring" exculpants of the military hospital in Val de Grasse - they used horse doses of tranquilizers and electroconvulsive therapy, popularly known as eletroshock. Doctors banned visitors from visiting Saint Laurent and so intimidated the patient that he only once went into the toilet during his entire stay, and at the exit from the hospital weighed about thirty kilograms.

Court with Dior

Taking advantage of military service and subsequent treatment, the leadership of the fashion house, headed by Marcel Boussac, decided to get rid of the "problem" fashion designer and broke off the contract with him. Saint Laurent himself could hardly have achieved justice, but he was supported by his partner Pierre Berger. More restrained and cold-blooded, Berger proved that Dom had violated the terms of the employment contract, won the case in court and managed to get compensation from Dior. With the proceeds, Yves and Pierre founded their own brand - Yves Saint Laurent.

Black models on the catwalk

The French couturier not only pushed the fashion frames, but also fought against stereotypes. It was thanks to Saint Laurent that black models first took to the catwalk. One of his muses was the young Naomi Campbell, who still remembers the designer with great fondness and admits that she and her colleagues "are indebted to the maestro." By the way, Eve not only made her the heroine of his shows, but also in every possible way helped to ensure that Campbell's photos began to be published on the covers of gloss.

Friendship with Catherine Deneuve

Famous beauties idolized the designer, and he reciprocated them and created stunning images for the red carpet and cinema. Catherine Deneuve became one of the most loyal fans. The actress met Yves in 1965, and their meeting was the beginning of a long-term friendship: Saint Laurent dressed her heroines in Bunuel's Day Beauty and Truffaut's Serena from the Mississippi, and Deneuve shone in his Le Smoking and dresses from the Russian collection … For several decades, Catherine has amassed an impressive collection created by her dear friend, but last year she had to part with many masterpieces: the French diva sold her estate in Normandy and was forced to put up Saint Laurent's legacy at auction at Christie's.

Lilya Brik, "Man" and favorite bulldogs

Saint Laurent adored dogs, his favorite breed were Bulldogs. Especially dear to the heart of the designer was the first dog who received a sonorous and non-trivial nickname - Man (his portrait was even made by Andy Warhol). The nickname for the animal was invented by the “muse of the Russian avant-garde” and the great love of Vladimir Mayakovsky Lilya Brik, with whom Iva had a warm friendship.

Saint Laurent and Brik brought together and introduced the case. In 1975, Yves and Pierre Berger were waiting for their flight to Paris in the transit hall of Sheremetyevo. Bored, the couturier looked around and was annoyed by what he saw: “A sad sight, I have never seen so many fat women in black. There is no one to stop eyes. Except for that elegant lady in a green mink coat. Apparently from Dior? The lady in the fur coat, indeed from Dior, turned out to be 84-year-old Lilya, who immediately charmed the French. Eve sewed dresses for Brick, invited her to exhibitions and parties and highly appreciated her opinion of his sketches and even furnished the house with designer furniture in the form of sheep and rams on Lily's advice.

But from the rams back to the dogs. The Dog Muzhik died tragically: he ate the pills scattered by the negligent owner during one of the parties. The loss was replaced by a second bulldog, according to royal tradition, named Muzhik II. As a result, the "muzhik" clan reached Muzhik IV, who outlived his stellar owner.