Pierre Bergé, the long-time companion and business partner of Yves Saint-Laurent, saluted the grand couturier as definitively representing the spirit of France, describing him as “French because you could have been nothing else. French like a verse of Ronsard...” Now, let us pause right there and consider the place of that 16th-century French poet, Pierre de Ronsard, in French literary history, and how it is analogous to the place of this French designer in not just French fashion history, but in worldwide contemporary fashion as we know it. . . .
The French-born British writer Hilaire Belloc said of Ronsard: “If it be true that words create for themselves a special atmosphere, and that their mere sound calls up vague outer things beyond their strict meaning, so it is true that the names of the great poets by their mere sound, by something more than the recollection of their work, produce an atmosphere corresponding to the quality of each; and the name of Ronsard throws about itself like an aureole the characters of fecundity, of leadership, and of fame.” (Essays on the French Renaissance, 1904)
Can the same not be said of Yves Saint-Laurent? Pierre de Ronsard was known as “Le Prince des poètes et poète des princes,” that is, “The Prince of Poets and Poet of Princes,” just as Saint-Laurent was known as “Le Prince de Mode” or “The Prince of Fashion.” And it is true that Saint-Laurent was not only a Prince of Fashion, but a Poet of Fashion. But we may extend that title yet further: the great Italian poet Dante is known as the “Poet of Poets” just as the great English poet Shakespeare was known as the “Poet of the People,” and, indeed, Saint-Laurent may be known from here on forward as “The Designer of Designers” and as “The Designer of the People” as well....
In considering the work of Shakespeare, 19th-century American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of Shakespeare something that maybe also be said of Saint-Laurent in the world of fashion—that his work “possesses the power of subordinating nature for the purposes of expression, beyond all poets. His imperial muse tosses the creation like a bauble from hand to hand, and uses it to embody any caprice of thought that is upper-most in his mind. The remotest spaces of nature are visited, and the farthest sundered things are brought together, by a subtle spiritual connection.” (Nature, 1836)
The German writer Georg Christoph Lichtenberg wrote that: “No work, and especially no work of literature, should display the effort it has cost. A writer who wants to be read by posterity must not neglect to drop into odd corners of his chapters such hints at whole books, ideas for disputations, that his readers will believe he has thousands of them to throw away.” (The Waste Books, Notebook D, Aphorism 53, 1773-1775)
Likewise, we may also say that no work, and especially no work of fashion, should display the effort it has cost. A designer who wants to be admired by posterity must not neglect to drop into odd corners of his collections such hints at whole clothing lines (as shown in the countless variations on YSL concepts every season, some being shown in the lookalikes gallery below), and ideas for disputations (tuxedos for women, see-through blouses, and costumes from Africa and Asia for Western women), leading both designers and fashion-lovers–as well as any perceptive onlooker–to not only believe, but to actually see that he has thousands of such ideas to throw away, and, as Emerson said of Shakespeare's inventiveness with human nature, it was female beauty that Saint-Laurent tossed like mere bauble from hand to hand with every new collection....
Emerson also said of Shakespeare that, “It was not until the nineteenth century, whose speculative genius is a sort of living Hamlet, that the tragedy of Hamlet could find such wondering readers. Now, literature, philosophy and thought are Shakespearized. His mind is the horizon beyond which, at present, we do not see. Our ears are educated to music by his rhythm.” (Essays and Letters, p. 718)
And in yet another essay, he remarked that “On the other part, instead of being its own seer, let us receive from another mind its truth, though it were in torrents of light, without periods of solitude, inquest, and self-recovery, and a fatal disservice is done. Genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over-influence. The literature of every nation bears me witness. The English dramatic poets have Shakespearized now for two hundred years.” (The American Scholar, 1837)
So, it may thus be said that just as English writers have “Shakespearized” for the past four centuries, it is fashion designers that have “Saint-Laurentified” (pr. “san-lo-rontified”) for the past four decades. Prêt-a-porter, Haute Couture, the looks and styles of Paris, Milan, New York, London and all the other big cities, are quite Saint-Laurentified. His mind is the horizon beyond which, at present, we cannot see. Our aesthetic sense has been educated by the music of his designs, and his work forms the vocabulary and even the very alphabet of modern fashion design.
So let us receive from this other mind its truth, though it were in torrents of light from one season to the next, but if we do this without periods of solitude, inquest, and self-recovery, then a fatal disservice is done. As in all the arts, genius is always sufficiently the enemy of genius by over-influence. The fashion collections of every major city and wardrobes of innumerable women bear witness to this fact, and, once again, just as writers have Shakespearized for the past four hundred years now, so designers have Saint-Laurentified for the past four decades, and will continue doing so, well into the future....
And so it may be said that Yves Saint-Laurent is the Shakespeare of modern fashion, along with being Le Ronsard de la Haute Couture.
For fellow-designer Christian Lacroix, the reason for Saint-Laurent's success was his astonishing versatility. There had, Lacroix said, been other great designers but none with the same range. “Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga, and Dior all did extraordinary things. But they worked within a particular style,” he explained. “Yves Saint Laurent is much more versatile, like a combination of all of them. I sometimes think he's got the form of Chanel with the opulence of Dior and the wit of Schiaparelli.” (as quoted by Agence France-Presse news, June 2, 2008)
In his retirement speech, given on January 7, 2002, Saint-Laurent acknowledged the various preceding couturiers who made him the relentlessly creative genius that he was. “First and foremost,” he said, “I would like to pay tribute to Christian Dior, my master, who was instrumental in revealing to me the secrets and mysteries of haute couture. I do not forget Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, and, of course, Chanel, who taught me so much and who, as we all know, liberated women. It was this that enabled me, years later, to give women supremacy and, in a way, to liberate fashion.” |
