The world according to Yves Saint Laurent

The designer put the women who wore his clothes first (“What’s most important in couture is the body we dress, the woman we dress, more so than the ideas we might have”) and was determined to change attitudes of the era (“Fashion’s purpose is not only to make women look beautiful, but also to reassure them and to give them confidence”). He could be critical of the fashion industry (“I adore clothes but I hate fashion”), and he saw himself as a craftsman who perfectly understood his customer (“I think there are three kinds of designers. The great ones, the true ones, and the ones who know how to delight a woman just by making a very simple dress, or a very simple suit”).