Yves Saint Laurent
Renowned for his talent as a designer and innovator, Yves Saint Laurent will forever be remembered by top models of note as the person who paved the gateway for their success. Here, a retrospective of his impact.
By Lenina Mortimer
Pat Cleveland. Mounia. Iman. These women are regaled as the most influential models of the fashion world. Their faces, their swagger, their style graced Italian and Parisian runways for three decades. The primary reason they were able to shine? Yves Saint Laurent.
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent, the iconic couturier, died in his Paris home on June 1 at the age of seventy-one after battling brain cancer. Since the age of seventeen, when he started designing for the House of Dior, Saint Laurent's impeccable vision and creativity revolutionized the fashion industry. He is credited for introducing the trapeze dress in 1958, the beatnik look in 1960, Le Smoking, a tailored pantsuit in 1966, the safari jacket in 1968, the jumpsuit in 1969 and creating the category of ready-to-wear as well as the concept of dressing for less with his Rive Gauche stores. But it was his unrelenting appreciation for the beauty of black women and the overwhelming influence he has had on the progression of ethnic models in general, that makes him a standout to fashion icons such as Naomi Campbell, who broke down in tears upon hearing of his death.
The late designer's thoughts on diversity and ethnicity were uncommon for his time. "Yves was a person who felt beauty came in all varieties… he had a global perspective and was ethnic before most designers," says former model Alva Chinn. In 1978 he shocked the industry by casting Martinique-born model Mounia in a Porgy & Bess-themed collection wearing a pink pantsuit. It was the first time a Black model—or Black American culture—was interwoven with haute couture. The collection received a standing ovation led by actress Catherine Deneuve. (Karl Lagerfeld would embrace a similar cultural adaptation during the 1980s when he revitalized the house of Chanel, dressing models in shorter skirts and heavy "dukey" gold chain links ála Run DMC). Afterward, Mounia became Saint Laurent's first black muse, often closing his shows wearing the grand finale—a show-stopping wedding dress. In 1999 Saint Laurent shocked the industry again by showcasing all of his African-inspired collection on the black girls that ruled. "I must say it's extraordinary to work with Black models," Saint Laurent revealed in David Teboul's 2002 documentary, Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times. "Their bodies, the way they hold their head, the legs—really, very provocative and exhilarating."
Saint Laurent’s appreciation for ethnic variety began as a child, growing up in Algeria, the second largest country of Africa located on its northern tip. Colonized by the French, the country shares most of is cultural heritage from its neighbor Morocco, and is surrounded by Tunisia, Libya, Niger, Mali and Mauritania. Saint Laurent infused this cultural diversity throughout his designs and thought it only natural to showcase them on ethnic models. "He was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society," says Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent’s longtime business partner, in an interview with a French radio station. "That's how he transformed society and that's how he transformed women. Chanel gave women freedom. Yves gave them power." The models who found themselves in hot demand after appearing in a YSL show certainly felt that power. Throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, no other designer’s touch provided such an entry into fashion’s good life.
When British supermodel Naomi Campbell confided in Saint Laurent that French Vogue wouldn't give her a cover, she says he didn't hesitate to seek resolution: "When I said to him 'Yves, they won't give me a French Vogue cover, they won't put a black girl on the cover' he was like 'I'll take care of that,' and he did,” she told British channel 4 News. Accordiing to Campbell, Saint Laurent threatened to pull his advertisements from the pages of French Vogue if they did not give her a cover. With such a considerable threat that inevitably becomes a public relations nightmare, the editors, she alleges, acquiesced. Campbell graced the August 1988 cover of the Parisian magazine.
To be clear, using ethnic models for Saint Laurent wasn't about making a political statement, says those who have worked with him. "He didn't do it to draw attention to his design [in a sensationalist kind of way]," explains former Saint Laurent model Lu Celania Sierra from her home in Harlem. "He did it because he liked the way clothes looked on the [Black] models. Saint Laurent would pick a model with the richest hue because he loved the look of a particular color against her skin."
"He loved blacks –period!," adds Audrey Smaltz the founder and CEO of The Ground Crew, a fashion show production company that produces many New York Fashion Week shows. "[He] did not only think of us as black," continues Smaltz, who was a former model and fashion coordinator / commentator for the Ebony Fashion Fair Show, "he thought of us as beautiful people." The traveling show, helmed by Eunice Johnson, introduced the YSL initials to black households worldwide. During Smaltz's seven-year tenure with Ebony, she remembers getting complete cooperation from Saint Laurent when many designers would deny the annual traveling show access. "[Yves Saint Laurent] was always so good to us…his house would always say 'yes' to us when other high fashion houses weren't as giving."
When Saint Laurent introduced an ethnic model, his stamp of approval had a trickle effect that rippled across the Atlantic. After Mounia walked in Saint Laurent's show, she booked more than 15 covers, including WWD. It was as if once seen through his eyes, the fashion world recognized beauty beyond blonde hair and blue eyes for the first time. "He put me on the map. Once he used you then everybody wanted you!” says Sierra. “…And if he liked you he wasn't afraid to use you over and over again.” Sierra's most vivid memory of the admired designer was of his routine at the beginning of every runway show. “Before every show he would inspect the clothing on all the models. And as he made his rounds, he would caress the hand or face of each model. It was those touches that made every model feel special,” she reminisces.
Iman, former Saint Laurent model and CEO of Iman Cosmetics shares Smaltz's belief but also points out Saint Laurent’s passion for all women of color. "Mr. Yves Saint Laurent had a love affair with models with skin of color whether they were Africans, African-American, Caribbean, Brazilian, Indian, Tahitian, Japanese and all the colors in between… no designer has given us models with skin of color a higher tribute."
Ironically, while Saint Laurent was battling his illness, the fashion industry has been under scrutiny about its absence of models of color on the runways and in magazines. Last year Bethann Hardison, the former owner of Bethann Management, a modeling agency that managed many of the top black models like Tyson Beckford and Veronica Webb throughout the 1980s and 1990s, started a series of discussions with modeling agencies, designers and fashion stylists about the consistent lack of diversity.
Hardison’s town-hall style chats, which have received press coverage from The New York Times to American Vogue, can take perhaps 10 percent of the credit (Barack Obama's presidential run can claim the remaining 90 percent) for the historic all-black July issue of Vogue Italia. Shot by renowned photographer Steven Meisel, it showcased the beauty of black model icons (Pat Cleveland, Iman, Naomi, Tyra), the two newest models who have been embraced by the industry (Chanel Iman and Jourdan Dunn) plus newer faces waiting on their turn to really shine (Sessilee Lopez).
While some argue whether an all-black issue of Vogue magazine represents true progress, we're reminded that Saint Laurent opened a gateway for many models of color to strut through when he showed just one. "He represents a time period we all want back," says Hardison.
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