The Bite Magazine - Spring/Summer 2020 - Issue 27

bite book Image courtesy by Rizzoli T he book Yves Saint Laurent, a biography by jour- nalist and fashion writer Laurence Benaïm delves into the life of one of fashion’s most prominent pi- oneers from his birth to the height of his fame, successes, and failures. In the preface, the author recalls that he first encountered the designer in 1986 and a year later, met him in person. Despite Yves’ legendary impact on fashion, Be- naïm writes that the designer still remains an enigmatic and compelling figure. His character is described quite poetically which contin- ues throughout the pages of this biography, while a vivid picture is painted of his life as if the author had known him from birth. It is no wonder Yves once told him, “You know my life much better than I do.” Perceived as the “man who understood women with a glance before even meet- ing them” Yves Saint Laurent is seen as a hero and heroine, an angel-demon, unique, and of all centuries and all sexes, among other things. In the opening chapter, Benaïm reveals the details of the designer’s birthplace in Oran, Algeria before going into the ancestry and family tree of the Saint Laurents who were known as Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, an Alsatian family of magistrates that had fled Colmar, France in 1870 to escape the Germans and whose original name was Mathieu de Heidolsheim. We are then provided with a detailed picture of this wealthy family, their elite life of luxury, and Yves’ early years growing up. From a young age, Yves expressed a desire to be a design- er by cutting out silhouettes from cardboard and dressing them in old scraps of fabric that the laundress gave him. He also took an interest in the theatricals, perhaps because his mother took him to the opera every Sunday afternoon. He would often have “an audience of children as director, actor, and costume designer of his own productions” in an imaginary world filled with silent lightning bolts, angels of death, and talismans that were quite surreal. This very in-depth account of his life reveals minute details that make you feel like you know Yves well. From his in- terest in the collections of Hubert de Givenchy, Christian Dior, and Cristóbal Balenciaga, discovering the black and white prints of photographers Horst P. Horst and Irving Penn when he travelled to Paris for the first time, to being inspired by Coco Chanel’s mastery in fashion to the point of obsession but surprisingly turning down her offer of be- coming the successor to her brand. His preference of a fantasy world filled with ideas of love, romance, and adventure, glamorous starlets in Hollywood movies and the pages of Vogue that showed the elegance of women and their stylish wares is as if he was afraid of the real world. His shy persona sometimes caused him to keep to himself and at other times, comfortable in the company of his close friends. Through his love for French novelist Marcel Proust’s work with whom he identified, Yves tried to recreate his world from these ideas. Jada Brookes reviews Laurence Benaïm’s in-depth biography on Yves Saint Laurent that makes you both gasp and triumph at times. Yves Saint Laurent Book Review