Less than three weeks later he won an exemption on health grounds after suffering a nervous breakdown, but when he returned to Paris Dior had already replaced him with Marc Bohan.
With Berge, Saint Laurent successfully sued Dior for breach of contract and cash in hand struck out on his own, with Berge taking care of the business side.
Saint Laurent’s success lay in the harmony he achieved between body and garment — what he called “the total silence of clothing.”
Saint Laurent’s success He was also in the right place at the right time, launching the era of the celebrity lifestyle in homes in Paris and Marrakesh where he mixed with the Jaggers, US-French socialite Betty Catroux or aristocratic muse, Loulou de la Falaise.
His collections took their inspiration from artists Picasso, Andy Warhol or Mondrian, and he was often seen in the company of ballet star Rudolf Nureyev and Warhol.
Founding his own house when pop culture and the youth market were on the rise, there was a new appetite for the originality of his slinky tuxedo suits see-through blouses and safari jackets.
His name and the YSL logo became synonymous with all the latest trends, highlighted by the creation of the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear label and perfume, as well as licensing deals for accessories and perfumes.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he set the pace for fashion worldwide, opening up the Japanese market and then expanding to South Korea and Taiwan.
But Saint Laurent’s career was not without controversy. In 1971 a collection modelled on the styles of World War II Paris was slammed by some American critics, and his launch in the mid 1970s of a perfume called “Opium” brought accusations that he was condoning drug use.
Fellow designer Christian Lacroix said no other design great could touch Saint Laurent’s versatility.
“Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga and Dior all did extraordinary things. But they worked within a particular style,” he explained. “Yves Saint Laurent is much more versatile, like a combination of all of them.”
In his later years the depression that haunted him all his life became more oppressive, and at his farewell bash in 2002 Saint Laurent admitted to having recourse to “those false friends which are tranquillisers and narcotics.”
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