Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (born August 1, 1936 in Oran, Algeria), is a French fashion designer, considered among the greatest of the 20th century. In 1985, in her book, "Couture: The Great Fashion Designers", Caroline Rennolds Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the cuture's rise from its Sixties ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable".
Like Chanel, Saint Laurent has created a unique style which for decades has been synonymous of the most refined and modern elegance. He was the first, in the 60s to understand that haute couture could take its inspiration from the street, not limiting itself to be a closed world without any relation with everyday life. His first collection for Christian Dior in 1958, after his mentor’s death, was a big sensation. In the elegant rooms of Avenue Montaigne, he introduced a gritty and irreverent new look, very unpolitically correct for the formality of the period. It was already possible to sense the originality of the new designer, who, during all his career, has been a constant innovator, a modernizer of the female image...read more
