Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

The Forum

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

cropped Main GettyImages-2634760.jpg

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

The Forum: Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary

Discussion & Talk

Yves Saint Laurent with two fashion models, Betty Catroux (left) and Loulou de la Falaise

17/03/2018 GMT

Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary

BBC World Service - The Forum, Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary

Bridget Kendall and guests on the glamorous world of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

Bridget Kendall talks to Olivier Flaviano, Emilie Hammen and Charles Sébline about French designer Yves Saint Laurent, whose fashion innovations shaped the way women dress today.

In the ten years since his death, the impact of designer Yves Saint Laurent on women’s fashion remains undimmed.  The pea coat, the trench, the trouser suit – many of his designs are now staples of the modern Western woman’s wardrobe.  So how did this famously shy and retiring man achieve global success?  And did his fashion innovations for women shape social change in the 1960s, or were they a response to his times?   

Bridget Kendall looks back at Saint Laurent’s life and legacy with director of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, Olivier Flaviano, fashion historian Emilie Hammen and one of Saint Laurent’s last assistants, designer Charles Sébline.


Photo: Yves Saint Laurent, French designer, with two fashion models, Betty Catroux (left) and Loulou de la Falaise, outside his 'Rive Gauche' shop. 
Credit: John Minihan, Getty Images.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Forum

Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service