There are not many designers who can go by three simple letters and become instantly recognisable. But YSL can. His life started out in 1936 in Algeria, where he would leave for Paris at 17 to become fashions guiding light in the mid-part of the twentieth century. It would be his training at Christian Dior, who at aged 18 hired him, and where just three years later would become the fashion houses chief designer due to Diors passing in 1957. In 1960 Saint-Laurent was conscripted to fight in the French army, and was shortly discharged due a physical and mental breakdown, only to return to Dior to discover Saint-Laurents former assistant, Marc Bohan had replaced him, prompting a legal battle between the two sides. The feud between Dior and YSL concluded with £48,000 in damages, which with his business partner Pierre Bergés business savvy approach, the eponymous YSL brand was established with the first line debuting in 1962, with Life magazine hailing the collective as the best collection of suits since Chanel. From 1962 till his death in 2008, Saint-Laurent would create some of the most iconic and inspirational collections in fashion. Pushing boundaries like no other designer of his time, innovating the male Tuxedo suit and putting the power on the female shoulders said Pierre in a recent interview at the Bowes Museum. However, it was not greatly received by the public, with restaurants and hotels asking for the wearers to remove their trousers whilst in the vicinity. His career would take him to become an international name, jet setting across the world to put on shows and party with the likes of Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger. Its the link with popular culture that seeped into his collections, with tributes to some of arts greats such as Picasso, Mondrian and Vincent Van Gogh in the late 1980s. Saint-Laurent drew inspiration not just from art but from far flung lands of Africa, Russian and the Orient all to critical acclaim. Yves Saint-Laurents legacy has inspired no-end of designers both old and new. His work seemed shocking, even ground-breaking at the time, but is now widely accepted thanks to YSLs fascination with world cultures and putting them into complexly cool couture.
