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It seems that the dark skies hovered over the glitz and glamor-laden fashion world yesterday. Legendary fashion designer and fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent passed away peacefully in his beloved city of eternal romance and love, Paris.
Saint Laurent, 71, died after battling a long illness, said Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's close friend and business partner since the last 40 years. Looking back to his prolific past, Yves Saint Laurent was one of the fashion authorities that shaped fashion to what it is now.
An illustrious visionary with a strong vision in inventing and innovating style to a higher extent, it was Laurent's breakthrough "Le Smoking" suit, which he conceived in 1966, that made women unafraid to wear pantsuits without sacrificing their feminine side or in other words, looking like their male counterparts.
In fact, before Ralph Lauren popularize the Safari look in the 80's, it was Saint Laurent's illustrious idea that made safari jacket and for men and women accepted as a part of fashion staple back in the 1960's and 1970's, about two decades before Ralph Lauren took the step.
Apart from that, Saint Laurent too was among the first couturier in the world to propel pret-a-porter or ready-to-wear into global prominence, which was then followed by other haute couture brands such as Dior, Chanel, Nina Ricci, and Vionnet.
Of course, who could ever forget the time when he decided to retire from the industry with a bang. In front of thousands of fashionistas and participated by the original supermodels of the world, Saint Laurent staged his final haute couture collection in 2002.
At the same time, it also marked the end of its haute couture atelier that he conceived back in 1962, right after being released from his Creative Director post at the Dior (he acquired the post at 21 shortly after the death of Monsieur Christian Dior in Italy).
Though he no longer be with us on earth, his legacy and fashion spirit will continue to roam the fashion world and like his predecessors Chanel and Christian Dior, he will always be remembered for his innovative style inventions as long as we could live and breathe. May God bless his soul and let him rest in peace.
*Photos courtesy of AP and Style.com.
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche - Level 2, Couture Pavilion, Pavilion KL, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100, Kuala Lumpur.
On the 26th of June 2008, American fashion designer Liz Claiborne died after a long battle with a rare cancer at the age of 78.
The death of Claiborne, a Brussels-born fashion purveyor who revolutionizes womenswear after Anne Klein was greatly felt by all fashionistas in United States, Canada, Europe and even in Asia and South America.
Born Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne on 31st March 1929 to an American banker Omer Villere and Louise Carol Fenner Claiborne in Brussels, Belgium, the direct descendant of William C.C. Claiborne, Louisiana's first governor, spent her teenage years following her parents around Europe and spent her summer holidays in Baltimore or New Orleans with family.
At the age of 19, Ms. Claiborne won a design competition held by Harper's Bazaar and was inspired to pursue a career in fashion. Instead her intention was disapproved by her parents. Her first fashion stint was working with designer Tina Lesser as sketcher and fit model. Later she worked with more dress companies such as Ben Reig, Juniorite and Dan Keller.
While working at Rhea Manufacturing Company, she met her husband Arthur Ortenberg in 1954. At the time, Liz was married to Ben Shultz while Arthur too is a married man but love knows no boundary. The couple started an affair, left the company and married in 1957. In 1976, Claiborne, Ortenberg and two other partners - Leonard Boxer and Jerome Chazen - started founded Liz Claiborne, Inc.
With a startup capital of less than half a million dollars, the company made its first gross profit of $2.6 million dollars in its first year. Her own interpretation of women's sportswear, which is office-friendly and incorporates the a blend of intelligence, strength and femininity plus carefully tailored separates that could be mix and match with other pieces became famous with working American women who were looking for alternative to the expensive workwears as well as something that's business-like and less uptight.
In 1986, Liz Claiborne Inc. made its way on the annual Fortune 500 companies list and it was the first company founded by a woman to enter the list. Claiborne and Ortenberg announced their retirement from the company's management in 1989 and founded a foundation that funds nature conservation projects and environmental causes worldwide.
Today Liz Claiborne Inc's company portfolio includes Ellen Tracy, Dana Buchman, Kate Spade, Enyce, Juicy Couture and it's mens division - Claiborne.
May Ms. Claiborne rest in an eternal peace...
*Photo courtesy of Liz Claiborne, Inc.
Former Playboy Playmate and Guess girl Anna Nicole Smith died today at the age of 39. According to CNN.com, Anna was found "unconscious and unresponsive" in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Hollywood, Florida yesterday.
Born Vickie Lynn Hogan in Mexia, a small town in Texas on 28th of November 1967, she first appeared in Playboy on March 1992 issue and was made the Playmate of the Month in May. In 1993, she was crowned as the Playmate of the Year 1993. It was Paul Marciano, CEO of Guess Jeans who changed her name from Vickie to Anna Nicole Smith for he did not like the name Vickie Smith.
At the age of 16, Anna married her high school boyfriend Bill Smith but their premature marriage ended in 1987. From the first marriage, she bore a son named Daniel who died last year of drug abuse at the age of 20. In 1994, she met her late husband J. Howard Marshall II, a wheelchair-bound oil tycoon from Texas while she worked as a dancer. Smith was 26 then and Marshall was 89 years old that time.
With fortune amassed of $1.6 billion, the couple married at Houston's White Dove Wedding Chapel. 14 months later, her husband died and leads to a 12-year legal battle over her the oil tycoon's fortune between her and her stepson E. Pierce Marshall, who died in June 2000 at the age of 67, after she won her $474 million judgment.
Last year, Anna was appointed as the spokesperson for TrimSpa after her triumphant weight lost but ended up included in a lawsuit against the weight-lost product manufacturer for misleading and false information. However, her reincarnation as legendary Hollywood icon Bo Derek for the TrimSpa ad campaigns proved to be a hit just like her Guess stint. By the time of her death, Anna is survived by her infant daughter Daniel Lynn Hope, whom she conceived September last year.
*Photo courtesy of Guess? Jeans.
It seems that the dark skies hovered over the glitz and glamor-laden fashion world yesterday. Legendary fashion designer and fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent passed away peacefully in his beloved city of eternal romance and love, Paris.
In fact, before Ralph Lauren popularize the Safari look in the 80's, it was Saint Laurent's illustrious idea that made safari jacket and for men and women accepted as a part of fashion staple back in the 1960's and 1970's, about two decades before Ralph Lauren took the step.
At the same time, it also marked the end of its haute couture atelier that he conceived back in 1962, right after being released from his Creative Director post at the Dior (he acquired the post at 21 shortly after the death of Monsieur Christian Dior in Italy). 
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