- Hardcover: 405 pages
- Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group; First Edition edition (21 Sep 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385476450
- ISBN-13: 978-0385476454
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.7 x 3.6 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,107,054 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
A soft but thorough take on the life and legacy of the neurotic, brilliant designer. Born in 1936 into a French upper-middle-class family in the Algerian town of Oran, Yves Saint Laurent was a slight, quiet boy tormented by his classmates. As a teenager, he dreamed of designing theater sets, but a fashion design contest in Paris-Match prompted him to submit some sketches; he won third place. In Paris, fate led him to an assistant's position at Dior. The famous designer died unexpectedly in 1957 and Saint Laurent, at the age of 21, became the firm's principal designer. He spent the next several decades shocking and moving the public, shifting hemlines several inches from one season to the next, offering his unorthodox takes on the Beat movement, Pop Art, and hippie culture, mingling elegance and comfort in his designs. Guided by Saint Laurent's tyrannical lover, Pierre Berge, the company, despite numerous setbacks, was built into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Saint Laurent's loyal clients included Catherine Deneuve, Bianca Jagger, and Marie-Helene Rothschild. Things began to go wrong when, in his early 30s, Saint Laurent became addicted to a variety of drugs; they left him a nervous, strung-out wreck and made him a chronic habitue of sanitariums. His collections deteriorated; even a brief resurgence in 1990 could not halt Saint Laurent's withdrawal from the limelight. He is now, the book suggests, largely a recluse. Unfortunately, while Rawsthorn, who has covered fashion and other industries for the Financial Times of London, offers a fact-filled narrative, she never convincingly grasps her subject's personality. She is clearly more comfortable dealing with the world in which Saint Laurent moved, and the great internal changes in the fashion business over the last several decades, than with his character. Yet her study fails to catch the verve and transcendent quality inherent in Saint Laurent's best work. A frustrating and dispassionate study of an enigmatic figure and his glamorous and decadent milieu. (Kirkus Reviews)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Yves Saint Laurent is arguably the greatest fashion designer of this century. World-renowned since the age of twenty-one, when he shot to fame as the savior of Christian Dior, he has changed the way that women dress with a series of innovations--from trouser suits and leather boots to peasant shawls and safari jackets--now regarded as classics. His business empire has become a role model for the fashion and beauty industries, establishing Rive Gauche as the first chain of ready-to-wear boutiques, launching Opium as a bestselling perfume, and opening up the vast Asian market.
Raised in colonial Algeria, Saint Laurent was taken on by Dior as an assistant while studying in Paris as a teenager. Hailed as a hero in France for saving the company after Dior's death, his world collapsed when he was conscripted into the French army. Saint Laurent broke down and was committed to a military hospital where he was brutally treated. His lover, Pierre BergÚ, rescued him and set him up in his own couture house. Thanks to Saint Laurent's genius and BergÚ's business acumen, their company dominated fashion throughout the 1960s and '70s, making them fabulously wealthy. But the pressures of fame and the commercial constraints of fashion took a toll on Saint Laurent. The charismatic young man who partied with Rudolf Nureyev and Andy Warhol fell prey to addiction and depression, retreating from the world to live as a recluse, while Pierre BergÚ became a force in the French arts and in politics. As Saint Laurent withdrew, his financial affairs came under scrutiny, culminating in the political storm over the sale of his empire in 1993 to a state-controlled company.
Alice Rawsthorn has followed the fashion industry for many years for the Financial Times of London, and her unique access has enabled her to write this biography, the first full account of Saint Laurent's life and business. Full of the drama and excitement of the fashion scene, Yves Saint Laurent is the remarkable story of a remarkable man.
Raised in colonial Algeria, Saint Laurent was taken on by Dior as an assistant while studying in Paris as a teenager. Hailed as a hero in France for saving the company after Dior's death, his world collapsed when he was conscripted into the French army. Saint Laurent broke down and was committed to a military hospital where he was brutally treated. His lover, Pierre BergÚ, rescued him and set him up in his own couture house. Thanks to Saint Laurent's genius and BergÚ's business acumen, their company dominated fashion throughout the 1960s and '70s, making them fabulously wealthy. But the pressures of fame and the commercial constraints of fashion took a toll on Saint Laurent. The charismatic young man who partied with Rudolf Nureyev and Andy Warhol fell prey to addiction and depression, retreating from the world to live as a recluse, while Pierre BergÚ became a force in the French arts and in politics. As Saint Laurent withdrew, his financial affairs came under scrutiny, culminating in the political storm over the sale of his empire in 1993 to a state-controlled company.
Alice Rawsthorn has followed the fashion industry for many years for the Financial Times of London, and her unique access has enabled her to write this biography, the first full account of Saint Laurent's life and business. Full of the drama and excitement of the fashion scene, Yves Saint Laurent is the remarkable story of a remarkable man.
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2 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Rawsthornes book could be brilliant, without the moneytalk
18 Nov 1999
Format:Hardcover
Alice Rawsthorne has done a breathtaking job researching the complexed life of Yves Saint Laurent. When finishing it I felt wiser about YSL, about the man and his carrier, also about the fashion industry from Diors heydays up until today. I've learned a lot about the industry, the people and the pressure a designer is under during the preporation of an haute couture or a prêt-à-porter presentation. It made me feel happy I chose fashion journalism and not fashion design. If I should say anything negative it would be that Alice Rawsthorns journalistic interest in finance is a bit boring. Especially for the fashion interested readers, that are the ones who will read her book. Imbicile as it may sound, all the money I care about are the ones I spend at Rive Gauche Homme.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Emphasis on the financial dealings of a fashion house
27 Sep 1997
Format:Hardcover
This is an interesting book but as the other reviewers have pointed out it emphasizes the financial aspects of the fashion business. It does not delve too much into why the designer was so innovative. Also, you don't get to know the designer very well through the book. If you are interested in the history of the fashion business from the 1960s through the 1990s, this book is for you.
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