It’s one thing for a designer to have women love to wear his clothes.
It’s another for one to have outright disciples – especially when some of them are designers themselves.
Yves Saint Laurent, however, has just that.
Make that “had.”
Yesterday, during a small press conference at his Paris salon, the designer retired at age 65.
The New York fashion world already feels his absence.
“It’s impossible to think of a designer who has not been inspired by Yves Saint Laurent,” said Diane von Furstenberg, who met YSL in 1968 and sees him often. (She postponed a trip to Paris this week in order to be there for YSL’s last couture show on Jan. 22.)
“Yves is one of the most important designers ever,” she added, describing his look as “modern, sophisticated and elegant.”
Quite simply, she said, “He’s been a total inspiration to all of us.”
Saint Laurent invented, among others, the A-line trapeze dress and popularized the see-through blouse. He broke down the barriers separating women’s styles and men’s, creating famous androgynous looks such as pants suits and tuxedos for women. His elegant le smoking evening styles continue to set standards.
“His clothes have such an extraordinary elegance – not a matronly elegance, though,” von Furstenberg said. “He always made a woman look like a lady. Even when his stuff was sexy, it was never vulgar. It was young and vibrant.”
She says Saint Laurent’s appeal lies in his understanding of women.
“He worships women – he understands and is inspired by them,” she went on. “And he inspires them as well.”
Another of Saint Laurent’s designer friends, Carolina Herrera, says his fashion shows have always been something to behold – and not just because the guest list boasts names like Paloma Picasso, Catherine Deneuve and Bianca Jagger, who kicked up a controversy when she wore a white YSL tux to wed Mick Jagger.
“The feeling is so incredible, because you know you’re going to see the most beautiful clothes in the world,” Herrera said. “He always comes through. He’s done everything – and he’s influenced everyone.”
YSL’s designs aren’t the only things that inspire.
Josh Patner says he and partner Bryan Bradley studied YSL’s style of client relations when founding Tuleh, a posh label that caters to an equally posh clientele.
“For young people today who are interested in making beautiful, expensive clothes, he’s the role model for how to build client relationships into long-lasting conversations that inspire your work,” Patner said.
“He built a family of beautiful women around him, both in his studio and the clients that he dressed.”
Von Furstenberg said Saint Laurent will hardly be bored in retirement – “He paints beautifully, he writes beautifully” – and his contribution to fashion will be eternal.
“He will never be gone,” she said, “even after he dies.”