Today I set out to continue my coverage of the 2009 resort collections but was stopped in my tracks when I read of the news about Yves St. Laurent. It has come to my attention that the legendary Yves, had passed away on Sunday night and was laid to rest at an intimate funeral today. I am deeply sadden by the loss of one the greatest designers of modern times.  Here he is pictured above with the drawing that beat out Karl Lagerfeld in the international Wool Secretariat competition in 1954

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria in 1936 to an affluent French family. The experience of growing up in Algeria influenced him greatly. He was never one to shy away from bold ethnic prints. Saint Laurent also spread his love for ethnicity to the runway where he would employee a variety of ethnically diverse models throughout his design career.

At the tender age of 21 Yves was appointed head designer for the house of Christian Dior in 1957. Yves had been working with Dior himself since he was 18 years old. Often Dior would refer to him as his “Dauphin” meaning Saint Laurent would be next in line for the proverbial throne.

I remember when I was young and the only name I could remember from my sisters copies of Vogue was Yves Saint Laurent. I would soon spend my days at the library searching books that bore his name until I came across a picture of the infamous suit he dubbed “Le Smoking”. It was love at first sight. I couldn’t stop thinking about this suit, I would go for days on end wishing that I would one day own or at least wear a white “Smoking” similar to the one Bianca Jagger wore when she married Mick in 1971.

“ Le Smoking” was a men’s tuxedo tailored for a woman all the while with the help of some shoulder pads, maintaining the outward appearance of a formal tuxedo.  This suit blurred the lines of masculinity and femininity. If it wasn’t for this iconic suit many of  power suits we see walking down the red carpet and into the board room today wouldn’t be possible. Many women attending Saint Laurent’s funeral knew how important this suit was to fashion and how it helped with the women’s liberation movement of the 60-70’s, and that is why their wore their “Smoking’s“ to pay respect to him. Pictured above is photographer Helmut Newton’s infamous photo that captured the spirit of Le Smoking.

I am running out of time for this segment and I have barely scratched the surface of importance of Yves Saint Laurent. The life of Yves Saint Laurent deserves to be celebrated on more that one occasion. I intend to do his memory justice by singing his praises in more articles to come. I would like to leave you with a quote that demonstrates his love an understanding of women, a trait that will be dearly missed in the world of fashion.

“The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves. But for those who haven’t had the fortune of finding this happiness, I am there.” - Yves Saint Laurent.