Thursday, June 05, 2008

RIP YSL

Yves Saint Laurent, one of the world's greatest treasures and the only truly unique being in fashion, died June 1st at the age of 71. I thought he would have lived forever. We can go onward without him, but we will always still imitate him.


In his own word's:

Recent political events, the reaction of young people to fashion and the way of life today make the haute couture a relic of the past. I do not want to find myself in the past--or in a stronghold cut off from everything. --YSL in 1968

I did not think that in a profession as free as fashion that one could meet so many people so narrow-minded and reactionary, petty people paralyzed by taboos. But I am also very stimulated by this scandal because I know that which shocks is news. --1971 (In reaction to universally scathing reviews of his spring couture collection.)

I have said before that the most beautiful makeup of a women is passion. But cosmetics are easier to buy. --1978

I'm bored--and angry--with people who just design clothes for the runway. It's a massive deception, and one a lot of people have fallen for. --1979

Classics continue all the time because they have style not "fashion." --1981

People think decadence is debauched. Decadence is simply something very beautiful that is dying. It's a beautiful flower that is dying, and sometimes you have to wait a very long time for another flower to come along. --1986

In many ways, I feel that I have created the wardrobe of the contemporary woman and that I have participated in the transformation of my era. I have done so through clothes, which are certainly less important than music, architecture, painting or many other art forms, but it is nonetheless what I have done. --2002

The above quotes were taken from the Tuesday, June 3rd edition of WWD.

2 comments:

SanderO said...

He rightly understood how unimportant clothes are to both who we are and our lives and was wise enough to proclaim it.

We truly have become so invested in our "image" that we now have created a population which pursue fashion but not substance.

We are getting very shallow very fast.

Anonymous said...

I like his words, the best makeup for women is passion, but cosmetics is easier to buy.

Yes, human is easier to rely on imitation.