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Yves Saint Laurent's Last Show
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by Gruber & Swan-FWD
Paris, Jun 22, 2002/FWD/ --- They didn't so much fete Yves Saint Laurent at his final
fashion show in Paris Tuesday night as canonize the great couturier after an epic catwalk
display.
Two thousand fans, clients, critics and old friends crowded into the Pompidou Center for
the most eagerly anticipated collection of the Paris haute couture season, while thousands
more watched Yves swan song projected onto giant screens in the square outside.
Over a hundred models crowded onto to the catwalk at the finale, as a clearly moved but never
tearful Saint Laurent took his bow.
Catherine Deneuve sang, before she and Laetitia Casta - both in tuxedo pants suits - exited
with Yves while Nessun Dorma from Turandot swelled over the adoring audience from giant
speakers.
"I promised myself I wouldn't cry, but I couldn't prevent it. A great man has left fashion.
Yves made women sexy, mysterious, elegant but never vulgar," Diane von Furstenberg told FWD
after the show.
A slew of designers came to pay their respect to Saint Laurent, his first ready-to-wear
successor Albert Elbaz, Sonia Rykiel, Pat Field, Jean Louis Scherrer, Vivienne Westwood and
Paul Smith to name a few.
The show itself, which brings to a close a career spanning four and a half decades, was
essentially a retrospective of Saint Laurent's greatest collections, worn by the crème de la
crème of models.
Claudia Schiffer appeared in the same suede safari jacket made famous by Verushka; Naomi
Campbell drew a burst of applause in a short green fur wrap that highlighted her legendary
legs; Carolyn Murphy donned one of three bridal gowns; and Jerry Hall made a brilliantly
haughty entrance in a screen-goddess satin column.
The show was very long - nearly 90 minutes, comparing to the 15 minutes typical for most
Paris catwalk presentations - but the crowd lapped up the display of historic highlights
with repeated hand clapping and cheers.
There was an elegant symmetry to the occasion, which comes 40 years to the same month when
Saint Laurent launched his own house.
Security was tight at the event, which also drew Bernadette Chirac, wife of French president
Jacques Chirac, Madame Pompidou, widow of the man who build the museum, Madame Pinault,
whose husband Francois now owns YSL, plus a pack of well-heeled socialites including couture
gobblers Mouna Ayoub, Nan Kempner and Betty Lagardere.
"We regret to inform you that all access backstage will not be possible after the show," a
voice warned the audience.
After Yves had left the catwalk a huge Mylar screen blocked off the backstage anyway.
The show opened with a tape of Yves drolly answering questions from an old interview, as
models in simply elegant black suits hit the runway.
A selection of Yves greatest hits then
followed -- a pack of his legendary Mondrian dresses, a half dozen looks from his most
shocking "Liberation" collection and an explosion of color from his Picasso series.
There was a sensational moment when ten black models emerged in African-inspired dresses
with giant headgear, underlying Saint Laurent's path-breaking use of models from Africa.
And just in case anyone forgot who invented the tuxedo for women, out marched 40 models
including Gisele Bundchen and Nadia Auermann, in a superb series of impeccable Saint Laurent
looks.
Post-show, the crowd took the long escalator up the side of the museum for a cocktail party
overlooking Paris in the fourth gallery of which Yves and his long-time partner Pierre Berge
are the key patrons.
"Out of respect I had to come. When you think of Saint Laurent's influence it's incredible.
He led fashion throughout the sixties and seventies. He was the best - a real revolutionary,"
Paul Smith told FWD.
Added Lauren Bacall, "I have been a friend and client for thirty years. Yves is extraordinary.
Naturally, like everyone, I'm very moved."
Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Spring 2002
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