No one else has accomplished what Yves Saint Laurent has. In the fashion world, there are very few names that can boast having revolutionized women’s closets around the planet—and he’s one of them. When no other couturier dared venture beyond the traditional standards and safe havens of haute couture, Yves took a leap of faith with prêt-á-porter.
Before any other creative decided to look back to Chanel’s teachings, the designer recognized the importance and urgency of a gender overhaul among the women of the time. He gave them mobility, strength, fury, and style to face society’s rapid changes. His artistic knowledge and political platform allowed him not only to define a way of dressing, but to establish the very possibilities of being and thinking during a time of cultural revolution.
“I have always believed that fashion was not only to make women more beautiful, but also to reassure them, give them confidence.”
With those words, Yves challenged everything he stood against and rallied both his maison’s aesthetic and women’s fashion in a chaotic context that demanded innovation. All of this led to a road never before travelled. It was a path of exalted emancipation and timeless wardrobes that relied not on vanity, but in history, society, and even anthropology.
His greatest designs? Those that marked a turning point in the history of fashion? Take a look.
The Mondrian
This design was launched in the winter of 1965. With it, Saint Laurent paid homage to the abstract and harmonious paintings of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. In simple terms, the design consisted of six simple wool jersey and silk A-line cocktail dresses, with graphic patterns of black lines and blocks of white and a primary color. The couturier thus adapted the Tableu II painting (1922), which became one of the most impressive and recreated designs in art history. Pop Art and haute couture have gone hand in hand ever since.
Le Smoking
Of all the art-inspired designs in Yves’ repertoire, one particular piece stood out in 1966 in the eyes of his contemporaries: the first-of-its-kind tuxedo suit for women with subtly curved collars and narrow waistline. “For a woman, Le Smoking is an indispensable garment with which she finds herself continually in fashion, because it is about style, not fashion. Fashions come and go, but style is forever,” said Saint Laurent, echoing Chanel’s very spirit.
The Safari Jacket
Inspired by the idea of prêt-á-porter (“ready-to-wear”), and the merging of function and style, Yves took a military-type jacket traditionally worn by the British Army in India at the beginning of the 19th century and turned it into a symbol of sensuality, power, and utility. This beige cotton piece of clothing features two large front pockets and a V-neckline with laces—and it works incredibly well. To this day, the design still inspires new styles across the world.
The embroidered kaftan
In the middle of 1968, a year characterized by the intense cultural and political movements of a cosmopolitan society opening up to the hippie-chic experiences, Saint Laurent took the fabrics and colors of Moroccan sensuality in order to repurpose (or appropriate, as some would argue) traditional kaftans for westernized fashion. If nothing else, with this design, Yves brought us motion, reliability, and loose and mysterious shapes.
Yves Saint Laurent was himself a revolution. Without his work, it’s very likely that fashion trends would have followed a very different path indeed, one which might still be struggling to be taken seriously by the art world at large and for people to understand the value clothes have in expressing ourselves beyond traditional gender standards.
Translated by Oliver G. Alvar
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