Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent was born August 1, 1936. He was born in Oran Algeria and lived in a villa set

on the Mediterranean Sea . Laurent was repeatedly made fun of in school because his 

appearance seemed homosexual. Although he missed school many he days he pursued his 

interest in fashion, creating many exquisite paper dolls. As he grew older and reached his early 

teens, Laurent was already designing dresses for the women in his family, including his mother and two sisters. Laurent later moved to Paris to pursue his dreams of working in the fashion industry. His mother planned for Laurent to meet Michael de Brunoff who was the editor of French Vogue at the time.Laurent became a student at Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, where he learned much, resulting in the opportunity for Yves Saint Laurent to meet and later work with Christian Dior. Although Yves Saint Laurent started his career in the fashion industry fairly early he was not able to open his 

own Haute Couture house right away. In 1960 Laurent was called to fight for Algeria in its 

Independence war. Yves Saint Laurent was forced to leave his job at Christian Dior and when 

he returned from Algeria his position at Dior had been filled. Saint Laurent sued Christian Dior 

for a breach of contract, which resulted in Saint Laurent winning 48,000 Euro.With this 

newfound source of money, and Saint Laurent’s lover and partner on board, they were able to 

create their own fashion house of Haute Couture in Paris.