The Rise of
Yves Saint Laurent

When Christian Dior died quite suddenly in 1957, the eggheads of the fashion world were all in a panic as to who would oversee the great fashion house he established; all eyes turned to his very young assistant, a 21 year old man named Yves Saint Laurent (1936 – 2008).

In the decades since this column first appeared, Yves Saint Laurent has been categorized ten times over as one of the grand masters of fashion – but that was not quite so evident at the time. This article will succinctly reveal what was known about him then and his various talents:

“His 1958 fall collection, ‘the curve line‘ – accenting high bodices and lowering hemlines to 15 inches from the floor, met with the same critical applause that greeted the Trapeze line…”.

Both Dior and Yves Saint Laurent had a good deal of trouble with people who would illegally copy their designs; click here to read about that part of fashion history.