«Yves Saint Laurent - Style & Design Legacy»

«Les modes passent le style est éternel - Fashions pass, style is

eternal»

Yves Saint Laurent - style

• A style based on strong recognisable signs

• Working with codes is in the heart of actual fashion

The inventor of the modern language of fashion

• The modern femininity

• The modern wardrobe

• The notion of individualism

• The interaction between creation and street style

To underline the complexity of modern femininity

• Women want to express the various aspects of their femininity: seduction and an active role in society

• The YSL answer is Ambiguity with the mixing of genders

• He has invented the « In Between Spirit » : androgyny, the mix of bourgeois and popular style, the masculine-feminine style mix, the sport and urban attitude mix …

Ambiguity

Strong as a Man

Charming as a

Woman

Loulou de la Falaise, 1967

AMBIGUITY:To show and to hide at the same time

Fall-Winter 1970 Spring-Summer 1968

ANDROGYNY

Yves Saint Laurent and his sister.

Desert tunique inspired by the

Africa Corps uniform.

Veruschka, photo of FrancoRubartelli. Vogue, 1968

Betty Catroux, Loulou de la Falaise

1969

MASCULINITY-FEMININITY

Spring-Summer 1978

Spring-Summer 1967

SMOCKING A NEW PROPOSAL FOR THE

EVENING

Fall-Winter 1968 Fall-Winter 1966 Fall-Winter 1996

Functional outfits and uniforms in an elegant translation: Urban navy suit, sport outfit for

evening, urban short pants…

Spring-Summer 1962 Fall-Winter 1976 Spring-Summer 1971

Fashion and Society

• Pierre Bergé: "He turned fashion on its head, making it socially relevant rather than merely aesthetic".

The influence of Pop Culture To the WWD Magazine, Yves Saint Laurent said in 1965 : "I am fed up

doing dresses for blasé rich women”. « J’en avait marre de faire des robes

pour des milliardaires blasées »

Hippie shock

A style that helps to define your own personality

Loulou de la Falaise, hippie chic in 1972Talitha Getty, Marrakech

Catherine Deneuve

Collection Pop,

homage to

Tom Wesselmann

Winter 1966

BEING ELEGANT AND COOL

AT THE SAME TIME

An unconventional way of doing Haute Couture

26 September 1966: Launch of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, 21 rue de Tournon-Paris

SHOCKING COLORS

Fall-Winter 1992 Fall-Winter 2000

NO LITERAL REFERENCES –CROSS REFERENCES IN IMAGINARY TRAVELS

Collection Ballets Russes, july 1976

Yves Saint Laurent :A Master for the Fashion World

• The impossible legacy ?• The impossible dream: to become as

successful as YSL• Every designer has his stylistic heritage in

mind as a reference

Albert Elbaz for Lanvin

• For Summer 2009: « What we have to do now is make life easier for women ».

• He was named AD for Rive Gauche in 1999: "I don't want to do Alber Elbaz for Yves Saint Laurent . I want to do Saint Laurent by Alber Elbaz ». His inspiration: dress up an active woman with trousers.

Albert Elbaz for Lanvin. Summer 2009

MIX MASCULINITY-FEMININITY

Yohji Yamamoto Fall-Winter 2008 Bruno Pieters

Détournements - Hijackings

• Sport

• The Smoking

• Underdressed and overdressed

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

Summer 2009 Summer 2008

COOL & SOPHISTICATED

ATTITUDES

Hermès by Jean Paul Gaultier. Fall-Winter 2008

Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière

Winter 2007 Winter 2008 Winter 2005

Dries Van Noten

Summer 2009

Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci

Winter 2008 Winter 2007

Marc Jacobs

Resort 2009 Fall-Winter 2007 Resort 2009

Hybridization

• Exotism mix

• Color mix

Jean Paul GaultierSummer 2008

John Galliano Summer 2009

Yves Saint Laurent said that JohnGalliano is interesting «even he isdoing things that I can’t admit»

Marc Jacobs

Resort 2009 Summer 2009 Resort 2009

YVES SAINT LAURENT: “Elegance is being noticed

while wearing a black dress. It’s being at ease. It’s the attitude. It is not

wrinkles or white hair that age woman, it is her gestures.”