Yves Saint Laurent dies

Yves Saint Laurent has died aged 71

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Yves Saint Laurent, the designer credited for introducing ready-to-wear, has died in Paris aged 71.

Saint Laurent was one of the most influential designers on the Paris fashion scene and took the helm at Christian Dior after the designer's death when he was aged just 21.

In 1962 Yves Saint Laurent presented his first collection under his own name and in 1966 he introduced the ready-to-wear Rive Gauche collection which revolutionised the industry, making fashion more accessible to a wider audience.

He went on to design trouser suits for women including his famous "le smoking" tuxedo and safari jackets and was credited with sexing up women's working wardrobes. He was also well known for his supreme cutting skills and extraordinary use of colour.

Saint Laurent retired from his atelier in 2002 and had rarely been seen in public since. He had suffered from ill health throughout his life but became wheelchair bound in the last year of his life.

Saint Laurent was born in Algeria in 1936. He moved to Paris to study art in 1953 aged 17.

PPR, which owns the Yves Saint Laurent business released a statement in which François Pinault and François-Henri Pinault paid tribute to Saint Laurent.

They said: "[Yves Saint Laurent was] a singular couturier who carried a revolutionary vision of fashion to the highest level, Yves Saint Laurent at once maintained traditions of excellence and invented new codes of French elegance. He invented, revised and ultimately transformed all at the service of a passion: to make women radiate and to expose their beauty and mystery. More than a great designer, in reality an immense artist has left us. Elevating fashion to a new form of art, Yves Saint Laurent expressed the evolution and the revolutions of society through his creations."

The statement added: "Yves Saint Laurent leaves us with a heritage for which we are forever indebted to him. The PPR Group and all who work at Yves Saint Laurent are imprinted with the spirit of his creation and invention. And each individual therein will endeavour to stay faithful to the style and grandeur of his legacy." 

Drapers would welcome your tributes to Yves Saint Laurent. What do you remember Saint Laurent best for? Do you have a stand out Yves Saint Laurent fashion memory? Has he influenced your designs or the way you dress? Post your comments in the box below.