Yves Saint Laurent – How To Incorporate His Style
As the biopic of late Yves Saint Laurent was released last month, we take a look at this visionary and his truly impeccable sense of style. The film “Yves Saint Laurent by director, Jalil Lespert, takes place in Paris where the 21 year old designer takes the place of Christian Dior. There, he forms a friendship with model Victoire Doutreleau, designer Karl Lagerfeld and lover and business partner Pierre Bergé. Like many artists Yves Saint Laurent was a man who suffered and lived his loves unconventionally and to the fullest. His passions knew no boundaries and so did his style, thus he broke the ground with his greatest design being ‘Le Smoking’ jacket, a tuxedo style suit for women. Along with Coco Channel he was one of the first designers to envision, create and promote the androgynous look. By the 1970s, Saint Laurent was a bonefied part of the distinguished Parisian fashion world managing one of the most successful luxury names in the world.
Yves Saint Laurent – How To Incorporate His Style
Although Saint Laurent had an immense love for creating clothes, he didn’t feel the same about the ephemera of fashion. He also was a great advocate for elegance and simplicity that could be found in the strangest places, as he confided in a statement about blue jeans “I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes.”, he once said.
Although he focused on feminine haute couture his own sense of style was unconventional and in terms of menswear, Laurent drew inspiration on himself. His wardrobe compromised of smart, Parisian day suits, slim, sleek ties, tailored pants, leather brogues or moccasins and his trademark sophisticated glasses. Although, his choice in wardrobe key elements wasn’t groundbreaking it was the lucidity in form which made them unique and fresh.
Rigid and Conservative Suit
In contrast with his predecessors Yves Saint Laurent advocated for a break with the rigid and conservative suit forms of the past and opted for free flowing, artsy yet chic suits. As a result he launched the YSL menswear brand in 1974 focusing primarily around the men suit redefined and gained success not only amongst Parisian men but with overseas fashion forward gentlemen who craved a piece of the European sense of culture and style.
