When
Yves Saint Laurent the man founded his couture house in 1962, it was the start of a new fashion empire. The house's history is, according to Voguepedia, "a capsule version of the modern fashion industry - from its beginnings in couture to the eventual dominance of ready-to-wear to the rise of global conglomerates through branding and licensing. Saint Laurent not only witnessed these changes, he helped instigate them, with the assistance of [longtime partner Pierre] Berge."
Couture,
pret-a-porter, cosmetics, perfumes, menswear, eyewear, shoes, handbags - it's an empire that eventually proved too much for its sensitive, turbulent founder to handle, and Saint Laurent began to retreat from the world in the late '70s.
But Yves Saint Laurent the brand has endured for 50 years, thanks in large part to the new generation of designers who have carried the torch for the revered founder. Saint Laurent oversaw couture himself until 2002, when he presented his final collection and retired. But Rive Gauche, the ready-to-wear collection and what today we think of as YSL the brand, is a different story.