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.