After a youth spent in Algeria, and his baccalaureate in his pocket, Yves Saint Laurent left to take drawing classes at the Chambre syndicale de la couture de Paris. In January 1955, his destiny took a decisive turn: Michel de Brunhoff, the publisher of French Vogue, introduced him to Christian Dior (a fashionable couturier at the time), who immediately hired him as his assistant. He was 19 years old. Two years later, Christian Dior died suddenly of a heart attack. Yves Saint Laurent was then at the forefront of the scene.
On November 15, 1957, at the age of 21, he became head of Dior.
In 1961 Pierre Bergé, his companion on the road, convinced American billionaire J.Marck Robison to contribute the few billion francs needed to create the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house, of which he became the financial director. Yves Saint Laurent created his first collection in his own name in 1962.
This fashion enthusiast reigned over the women’s wardrobe, which he helped to emancipate through audacious creations inspired by men’s wardrobe, the colors of his Algerian childhood and the palette of the great painters.
In January 2002, Yves Saint Laurent announced that he was putting an end to his career. On June 1, 2008, he died at the age of 71 from cancer.
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