Yves Saint Laurent
Yves Henri Donat Matthieu Saint Laurent was born on August the 1st, 1936 in Algeria. By his teenage years he was designing dresses for his two sisters and his mother and at 17 his mother took him to Paris for a meeting she had arranged with Michael de Brunhoff the editor of French Vogue. By the time he turned 18 he decided to move to Paris and enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. Not long after De Brunhoff introduced him to Christian Dior where he learned and developed his talents. In 1960 Saint Laurent went back to Algeria in order to fight for its independence and shortly after was able to get an exemption for health. Dior did not save his job for him in Paris after he left and Saint Laurent successfully sued Dior for breach of contract. He succeeded in the lawsuit and was awarded £48,000. With the added money and in cooperation with his partner Pierre Berge, he opened his own fashion brand. He did well selling clothing and accessories and the brand grew in popularity. Eventually he started adding jewelry to his shows. His fashion jewelry often meshed well with runway pieces and the brands continued growth spread internationally.
