Mourning a Genius - LONDON KICKS - Fashion, Music, Art, Film, London and Going Out

On Thursday the well-dressed worlds of fashion, art and politics came together at the funeral of Yves Saint Laurent, a towering creative figure of 20thcentury. The heady guest list in attendance at the Église Saint Roch—a church dedicated to artists by Louis XIV—was a reflection of the gravitas Saint Laurent commanded across a spectrum of western society.

Saint-Laurent's vision for design was coupled with a revolutionary genius that few in the fashion world could match. As a teenager, Saint Laurent's enigmatic talent was recognised by Christian Dior, who brought him to the Dior fashion house. Before the age of 21, Saint Laurent was anointed Dior's 'Dauphin' and successor. Following Dior's sudden death, the young designer from Algiers assumed control of his mentor's fashion house, shooting to instant fame with his 1958 Trapeze Collection.

Unlike many overnight successes in the fashion world, Saint Laurent maintained his place at the top of haute couture for 45 years. At his creative best, Saint Laurent was a radical: part artist, part liberator, part maverick. Ten years following his first smashing achievement, he released a collection that suggested women wear trousers as part of their everyday uniform. It sounds rather draft now, but at the time his collection was completely revolutionary. Saint-Laurent forever altered society's perception of women with one collection. Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent's long term partner said he was "a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society. That's how he transformed society and that's how he transformed women." A stoic Saint Laurent said of his 1968 collection "my small job as a couturier, is to make clothes that reflect our times. I'm convinced women want to wear pants."

By 1983, Saint Laurent's work was recognised as so integral to driving women's fashion that he was honoured with a retrospective of his designs at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was the first time such an exhibition was given for a living designer. Even today, Saint Laurent is a touchstone for designers. Tom Ford notably built his Gucci collections—especially during the mid 1990s—around the sexually ambiguous designs Saint Laurent championed in the late 1960s.

Though the mood has been sombre, Saint Laurent's death is an opportunity for the fashion world to reflect on his genius, admire his revolutionary spirit and realise that brilliant art can indeed change the world. It smacks of hyperbole, but this is exactly what Saint Laurent was able to do through fashion: irrevocably alter society's perception of women and gender roles. Never has fashion seen such a champion for progressive social change, and it's hard to imagine it will ever see another.

written by: JCM