Gay History Month: Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Saint-Laurent is one of the most renowned figures in 20th century French fashion.
As a child, Laurent was incessantly taunted by his peers. As a result, he spent so much of his time alone and in his room, drawing, painting and designing dresses for his mother and sisters. He had it in his mind that it didn’t matter what others thought or said about him because he would be famous one day and prove them wrong.
At 17, Laurent presented his raw talent to the world in a dress design competition. He won first prize and caught the attention of Christian Dior, a leader of high fashion in France.
Dior gave Laurent a job on the spot as his assistant.
Laurent’s tasks at the House of Dior included decorating the studio and designing accesories, but soon he began sketching for the Dior collection, season after season.
Following Dior’s death in 1957, Laurent, only 21 years old, became the head designer of the House of Dior.
In 1960, Laurent was called to serve time in the French Army during the Algerian War. It was not long before fellow soldiers taunted Laurent and hazed him to the point where he found himself in a military hospital. It was there that he heard of the news that he had been fired by the House of Dior. Upon his discharge, Laurent sued the House of Dior for breach of contract and then he opened his own house. This was a turning point in the history of fashion.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Yves Saint-Laurent revolutionized haute couture.
His homosexuality lled him to play with lesbian culture in his designs. The trend of androgeny in fashion only heightened as he feminized male clothing. He has even been noted as the designer who made the pantsuit for wearable for women.
Laurent’s sexuality was no secret to the the fashion industry nor the general public, but he never officially came out until 1991.
Laurent died of a brain tumor in 2008, but YSL Fashion is still a leader in high culture and he is honored worlwide.
Today’s leading designers credit Yves Saint Laurent as their mentor and inspiration.
Icons like Laurent are important because of their influence on culture with art,a form of transgressive art.
This man had impeccable tastes. Lots of clothes designers venture into all manner of cultural consumables when they diversify, but none so successfully as Saint-Laurent. Take colognes and aftershaves, for example. Many if not most designer fragrances are horrid, but Saint-Laurent’s was sublime. I probable bought my first bottle when the creator, as good a self-publicity as Warhol, posed naked in the magazines and showed off a svelte, sexy body. He had long hair and a kind of cute nerdy face, complete with glasses.
Not only did I love the purchase, I still have a small amount in a bottle that I will not now use again. Things won’t be the same.