Yves Saint Laurent: A Biography

by Laurence Benaim

Overview

This definitive portrait of the creative genius who transformed fashion is the first major English-language biography of Yves Saint Laurent since his death in 2008, featuring exclusive interviews of those who knew him best, by one of the most respected names in French fashion.

Yves Saint Laurent's impact on fashion is legendary, yet he remains an enigmatic and compelling figure. Tracing the development of Saint Laurent's visionary work through his charmed yet tumultuous life, respected fashion writer Laurence Benaïm's newly translated and updated biography of the famed designer explores how this unassuming prodigy became a legendary, celebrated public icon who changed the face of fashion, style, and celebrity.
Enriched by the author's exclusive interviews—from Saint Laurent's partner Pierre Bergé to family members, his atelier staff, and muses such as Catherine Deneueve, LouLou de la Falaise, and Paloma Picasso—this fascinating biography chronicles early glimpses of Saint Laurent's talent in Oran and his star trajectory, from leading the House of Dior at the age of twenty-one to his fall from grace and subsequent forging with Pierre Bergé, fashion's most enduring and successful professional partnership. In portraying the man behind the timeless icons of the Mondrian-print shift dress and the Le Smoking trouser suit—who partied with Warhol in New York and relaxed with the jet set in his Marrakesh hideaway—Benaïm powerfully illuminates both the glittering world of haute couture and the business empire that revolutionized the fashion industry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847863396
Publisher:	Rizzoli
Publication date:	03/19/2019
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	680,471
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 2.20(d)

About the Author

Journalist and fashion writer Laurence Benaïm has written many books including Lancel: Parisian Maison Since 1876, Women in Dior: Portraits of Elegance, Dior: The New Look Revolution, and a biography of Yves Saint Laurent. She created the style supplement for the newspaper Le Monde and has contributed to Vogue and Marie Claire. She is an editorial adviser for Le Figaro.

Table of Contents

Preface xi

Chapter 1 Bittersweet Oran 1

Chapter 2 A Parisian Education 21

Chapter 3 A Young King at Dior 52

Chapter 4 The Draft, the Princesses, and the Algerian War 73

Chapter 5 A Man Disappears 87

Chapter 6 The Child with Nerves of Steel 101

Chapter 7 The Beatle on Rue Spontini 118

Chapter 8 The Rive Gauche Spirit, from Belle de Jour to Androgyny 131

Chapter 9 Yves, Loulou, and the Serpents 152

Chapter 10 The Retro Bombshell 171

Chapter 11 A Passion for the Thirties 189

Chapter 12 The Move to Fabulous Avenue Marceau 207

Chapter 13 Black Is a Color 221

Chapter 14 The Opium Years 229

Chapter 15 Working in Red 260

Chapter 16 The Solitude of Honors 299

Chapter 17 The Saint Laurent Empire 329

Chapter 18 Babylon: 1990 to 1993 359

Chapter 19 What Is Silent and What Fades Away 377

Chapter 20 Searching for the Absolute: 1993 to 1998 392

Chapter 21 The End of a Dream: 1999 to 2002 422

Yves Saint Laurent Statement at Press Conference January 7, 2002 445

My Dialogue with Women Is Not Over 448

Timeline 450

Notes 474

Sources and Bibliography 485

Acknowledgments 505

Playlist 508

Index 510

Editorial Reviews

A meticulously detailed, overly worshipful biography of Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008), conveyed in prose as sumptuous as the designer's acclaimed couture… An adoring homage.”
—Kirkus

From the Publisher

2018-12-30

An updated and translated biography of the famed designer.

Journalist and fashion writer Benaïm (René Lacoste, 2018, etc.) offers a meticulously detailed, overly worshipful biography of Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008), conveyed in prose as sumptuous as the designer's acclaimed couture. Born in Oran in Algeria, where he was a shy, bullied child, Saint Laurent felt shame and fear about his sexuality. "Being gay in Oran was like being a murderer," he told the author. Later, internationally famous, he saw "celebrity as a revenge on the petty humiliations of his childhood." Recognition came early: In 1954, he became the youngest winner of a coveted international prize; the following year, Dior hired him as a design assistant; in 1957, when Dior died suddenly, the young Saint Laurent was named as his successor. Triumph followed as he mounted shows for Dior and, when he was 25, for his own company. Benaïm describes each collection in detail, including reviews—usually gushing, occasionally dismissive—and the roster of his wealthy, trendsetting clientele. "Yves Saint Laurent offered liberated women additional sophistication," writes the author, "and he gave the others the certainty that they were modern." He extolled svelte, androgynous models; while other couture models were slim, or even skinny, his, one commentator noted, "skirt the edge of death from malnutrition." Besides documenting his fashion innovations, Benaïm attends to his expanding business, which came to include hundreds of shops; and his cosmetics, jewelry, and perfume enterprises, which gave the world the coveted Opium, a scent that brought in more than $3 million in its first four months. The author examines his relationship with his lover, the mercurial, stubborn, and powerful Pierre Bergé, who whipped the YSL brand into a hugely profitable empire. She also chronicles Saint Laurent's physical and psychological descent compounded by alcohol and assorted drugs. A detailed timeline distills the events of his life, and the author even includes a playlist of music that accompanied his shows.

An adoring homage.

Kirkus Reviews