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| Yves Saint Laurent |
You know how people ask, "If you could have a dinner party with anyone dead or alive, who would your guests be?" Well, I know, without a doubt, that the legendary French designer Yves Saint Laurent would definitely make the cut.
Not only is he my favorite designer of all time, but I also think we're kindred spirits. We were both born in Africa, I'm from the Congo, he's from Algeria; we both have ridiculously long names, my full name is Divine Anne-Claire Mujinga Kakonde, his is Yves Henri-Donat Matthieu-Saint Laurent; we both have a dark sense of humor, I'm very sarcastic and quick-witted, and as for YSL,well, you'll just have to check out his
La Vilaine LuLu series.
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| YSL at his final show with all of his muses |
Saint Laurent was a true trailblazer; at 19 he won the International Wool Secretariat competition, beating out much older candidates, including a then unknown Karl Lagerfeld; later that year he was chosen to work for the legendary Christian Dior. At 21, Laurent was chosen as Dior's successor and took over the fashion house, per Monsieur Dior's request. No one thought that anyone, especially a 21 year-old could fill Dior's shoes, and the label was pretty much considered dead. Fortunately, Saint Laurent's collection for Dior was an instant hit, and he became a star in the fashion world.; this was the collection where he created what is now known as the "trapeze dress".
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| The infamous Le Smoking tuxedo |
After his stint at Dior, he started his innovative, creative and iconic eponymous label. He was the first to design an
evening trouser-suit for women, dubbed
Le Smoking; he was the first one to use black models in his shows.
Iman was one of his muses, whom he called his "dream woman".
If you look closely, you can still see Saint Laurent's influence in the fashion world today. He was a true original.
-DIVA
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