The Beautiful Fall

Yves Saint Laurent, fashion icon, dies at 71

"Yves Saint Laurent, who exploded on the fashion scene in 1958 as the boy-wonder successor to Christian Dior and endured as one of the best-known and most influential couturiers of the second half of the 20th century, died on Sunday in Paris . . . Among his greatest successes were his Mondrian collection in 1965, based on the Dutch artist's linear paintings, and the "rich peasant" collection of 1976, which stirred so much interest that the Paris show was restaged in New York for his American admirers. "The clothes incorporated all my dreams," he said after the show, "all my heroines in the novels, the operas, the paintings. It was my heart -- everything I love that I gave to this collection."

There's a fascinating book written by Alicia Drake: The Beautiful Fall: Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris -- in it, she profiles both Yves St. Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, contemporaries in the design world, rivals, co-conspirators, friends, enemies.

It's a terrific piece of biography and I couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Both designers come off brilliant and abysmal, by turns, and it's almost heartbreaking as Drake charts the rise and fall of Yves St. Laurent and his battle with his own inner demons.