Ever Yves

Two new museums celebrate the astonishing, pioneering talent of designer Yves Saint Laurent.

I want to give haute couture a kind of wink, a sense of humor - to introduce the whole sense of freedom one sees in the street into high fashion; to give couture the same provocative and arrogant look as punk -but of course with luxury and dignity and style." So said fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 on the eve of his exhibition at the Costume Institute of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, its first-ever show devoted to a living designer.

Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who also curated the show, wrote the following for the introduction:"For 26 years, Yves Saint Laurent has kept women's clothes on the same high level. He is followed across the oceans of the world by women who look young, live young and are young no matter what their age ... Half of the time he is inspired by the street, and half of the time the street gets its style from Yves Saint Laurent. His vehicle to the street is pret-a-porter - but behind it all, there are the superb designs of his couture workroom."

His influence on 20th-century fashion and beyond may be even greater than the peers he worked alongside - including Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy and Gabrielle Chanel - and his clothes and themes more referenced and appropriated by high and low culture alike. Although she died in 1971, Chanel, never one for modesty, had even pronounced him her spiritual heir.