Yves Saint Laurent is now widely renowned for both his clothing lines and his range of fragrances, with few designers having had such marked success in both fields.
Often associated with France, Saint Laurent was actually born in Oran, Algeria in 1936, but fled to Paris in 1953 to pursue his dreams of fashion design stardom.
Vogue director Michel de Brunhoff was shown some of Saint Laurent s early sketches and published them in his magazine straight away. He also introduced the teenager to Christian Dior, and after attending fashion school, Saint Laurent went on to work for the fashion giant until he died four years later.
After becoming Dior art director, Saint Laurent launched his first collection, the Neiman Marcus Oscar-winning Ligne Trapaze, in the same year. The success enjoyed by this range led to him designing his ground-breaking Beat Look at the start of the Sixties, where he used new design techniques to improve on street fashion.
Yet it would prove to be a bitter sweet succe
