At 21, Saint Laurent’s childhood dream of becoming a couturier came true when he was named Dior’s successor. In October that same year, Dior passed away from a heart attack at 52. In 1957, Saint Laurent was promoted to Dior’s assistant, tasked with designing some 40 dresses for each collection. Within the house of Dior, Saint Laurent quickly acquired the confidence of his instructor and in turn, took on more responsibility, like designing the headdresses for a 1956 costume ball called Le bal des têtes. Saint Laurent started to work at the house of Dior when in 1955 he was all but 18, after only one term at the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale, and this was only the beginning for his legendary career. Saint Laurent’s work promptly circulated within the industry, and Dior was impressed by the young talent after French Vogue editor in chief Michel de Brunhoff showed Saint Laurent’s sketches to Dior, who hired Saint Laurent as an assistant in his studio. The following year, he entered again, and a jury composed of names like Pierre Balmain and Givenchy awarded him first place in the dress category, and a 21-year-old Karl Lagerfeld first place in the coat category. In 1953, when Saint Laurent was 16, he entered the International Wool Secretariat competition, now known as the Woolmark Prize, and a jury which included Hubert de Givenchy and Christian Dior awarded the young designer third prize. Having parents that were both trained musicians, Saint Laurent’s favorite childhood pastime was producing plays with his sisters in which he would take the role of a couturier and play the head designer. His earliest designs, which are displayed there, consist of sketches and paper dolls clothed in fabrics that he snipped from his mother’s textiles. Saint Laurent’s earliest designs are preserved in his old studio at 5 avenue Marceau, which is now the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris -a must see if you meander into the 8th Arrondissement). Long after, he made parallels between his upbringing in North Africa and Paris, describing the art and the culture of the city as vastly influential to the creative development of both himself and his comrades. Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria in 1936.
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