Whilst his father had died in 1988, Saint Laurent's death came before that of his 95 year old mother and his sisters.
Famous for creating one of the first ready-to-wear lines, Saint Laurent popularised fashion trends such as safari jackets for men and women, tight pants, thigh-high boots and indeed the most famous of all his creations, the tuxedo suit for women in 1966, often referred to as Le Smoking.
A year after his death, in February of 2009, an auction selling some 733 art items of Saint Laurent's was held at the Grand Palais, with the proceeds going towards the creation of a new foundation for AIDS research. Some of the artwork included paintings from Picasso, ancient Egyptian sculptures and a Henri Matisse painting Les coucous, tapes bleu et rose that sold for a record breaking 32 million euros on the first day.
There was slight controversy involved with the auction, with the Chinese government attempting to stop the sale of two 18th-century bronze Chinese zodiac sculptures ( a rabbit head and rat head) which had been stolen from the Old Summer Palace by the French and British Forces during the invasion of China in 1860. Whilst a French judge dismissed the claim and the sculptures sold for just over $20 000 000, it later became known that the bid had been placed by a representative of China's National Treasures Fund, which was seeking to bring the items back to China.
A second auction was held in November to sell some 1185 items including Saint Laurent's last Mercedes-Benz and his Hermes luggage.
I'm not a huge fashion fan, but I do appreciate the notion of incorporating feminist ideals into fashion. And Yves Saint Laurent certainly did that with his tuxedo suit for women.
May your memory and clothing line live on Saint Laurent.
Image 1 available: http://dualshow.com/yves-saint-laurent/
Image 2 available: http://www.fashiontrendlatest.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Yves-Saint-Laurent.jpg
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