A biography for Yves Saint Laurenthasn’t been written yet.
“I want to give haute couture a kind of wink, a sense of humour - to introduce the whole sense of freedom one sees in the street into high fashion; to give couture the same provocative and arrogant look as punk - but, of course, with luxury and dignity and style.”
“I'm constantly looking for perfection.”
“I'm not deceived by people, because I don't pay attention to people.”
“I adore America. It's an extraordinary country. A new country.”
“I had noticed men were much more confident in their clothes. So I sought through trouser suits, trench coats, tuxedos, and pea coats to give women the same confidence.”
“Poiret made clothes for individual customers, but I wouldn't like to make a dress just for its own sake.”
“I am very happy to design haute couture. It's a love story between couture and me.”
“My favorite thing is a black sweater and skirt, which you can wear all the time by changing the accessories.”
“I try to only be in agreeable circumstances.”
“It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion.”
“I tell myself that I created the wardrobe of the contemporary woman, that I participated in the transformation of my times.”
“I wanted women to have the same basic wardrobe as a man. Blazer, trousers, and suit. They're so functional. I believed women wanted this and was right.”
“Dressing is a way of life.”
“A good model can advance fashion by ten years.”
“I'm so secluded. Very alone.”
“Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?”
“Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.”
“I live in solitude. I have need of solitude to do the next day's work. I can't be to parties where the noise tires me. I can't speak on the telephone. I must have complete calm.”
“I'd really like to be in closer contact with life. I'm a little too distant, I guess. I like to place myself outside.”
“Fashions fade, style is eternal.”