Yves Saint Laurent
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Graphic Design
Yves Saint Laurent Details
From Booklist This luxurious volume, published to accompany the current retrospective of Yves Saint Laurent’s work at Paris’s Petit Palais, beautifully compiles the fashion designer’s professional craft and personal history. Bearer of the iconic initials YSL, the Algerian-born wunderkind entered into the fashion world as an art director for Christian Dior destined for industry success. The book, formatted partially as a time line, narrates Laurent’s life against the broader backdrop of French social and cultural life. Close friends and colleagues adorn this story with personal accounts of a troubled life lived in the spotlight that was not without its share of intrigue (addictions, failed collections). Those interested in fashion for fashion’s sake will enjoy the many brilliant, high-quality photographs and descriptions of every collection YSL created. Full-page profiles of Laurent’s most revolutionary styles, such as his women’s tuxedo and safari jacket, demonstrate the designer’s significant contribution to fashion history. At its core, this book is a thorough depiction of a man and his craft. --Annie Bostrom Read more About the Author Farid Chenoune is a fashion historian and author of several books, including A History of Men's Fashion and Beneath It All: A Century of French Lingerie, as well as a contributor to French Vogue. He lives in Paris.Florence Müller has written many books and catalogues and organized several exhibitions on fashion history and the phenomenon of contemporary fashion. She teaches these subjects at the Institut français de la Mode. She worked as UFAC Director and Curator at the Musée des Arts de la Mode, Paris. Among other titles, she has published Costume Jewelry for Haute Couture and Art & Fashion. Read more
Reviews
I had to return my copy....I guess I just couldn't get over how cheap the cover looked with its flat matte black plastic finish. Pierre Berge had the nerve to print his logo on the back - but didn't have the decency to even provide a book jacket. So much for YSL quality. Of course, this is still the best book on YSL out there (for the present)....the collections shown, while not always the best choices possible, were still quite comprehensive. And the chapter on the "scandal collection" was one of the highlights of this book. I would have preferred a somewhat larger book size in order to present larger format photographs that one could really get "into". Also the chronologically listed history portion of the book leaves one knowing little to nothing about YSL the man (who with his penchant for drugs & high living, was a truly interesting character). For example, St. Laurent's nearly insane jealousy of the American designer Tom Ford, who in his short stint at YSL, consistently showed up the great Frenchman with his highly successful collections. Faced with the spectre of the uber-sexy Ford, whose talent nearly approximated his own, & unable to tolerate the huge acclaim Ford was receiving (in spite of sales doubling multiple times at YSL), St. Laurent quickly showed him the door. Or his peculiar relationship with Pierre Berge who constantly bullied St. Laurent to get back to work (St. Laurent greatly preferred partying to work, and like Gianni Versace, could blow through several million just on an afternoon shopping spree)....despite his icy demeanor, Yves was actually somewhat submissive & childlike. Or even the time he dressed First Lady Hillary Clinton in a black lace outfit that exposed her entire derriere as YSL demurred "I am sure the First Lady has the panache to pull this look off"....knowing all along the dress was Hillary's revenge on the President for his affair with Barbara Streisand.So make no mistake - this is a good book - it just wasn't for me (despite the cheap-looking cover & being just a bit undersized - it is printed in very good quality paper in Italy, & has a very useful illustrated index section) but it's by no means spectacular or exciting in any way....that's why gave this just 3 stars instead of 4 or 5. (My final word here is this: If you really like St. Laurent, I would not hesitate & buy this now while the price is still around $50 as I've seen this book selling for $90-100 on this same site).
