Entertainment

Much Ado Over Adieu

January 6, 2002 / 12:59 PM EST / AP

The fashion world turned out to cheer Yves Saint Laurent on Tuesday as the 20th century's towering fashion figure displayed a dazzling chronology of his best looks - from tuxedos to safari outfits to glamorous satins and chiffons - in his final haute couture show.

Thousands crowded the plaza outside the Georges Pompidou Center to get a glimpse of the 2,000 lucky invited guests. Then they stayed to watch the show on two giant video screens erected outside.

Inside the cavernous building, Saint Laurent presented four decades of clothes: some originals, many updated classics, and a few new designs. Woven throughout was perhaps Saint Laurent's defining garment: the "smoking," or tuxedo.

Saint Laurent, 65, stunned the fashion world two weeks ago when he announced he was ending his glorious and turbulent career, partly in disgust over what he saw as an industry ruled by commercial rather than artistic motives. He also spoke of his past battles with drugs, depression and loneliness.

"We live in a world of disorder and decadence," the designer said in an interview Tuesday with Le Monde newspaper, which devoted an eight-page supplement to him. "This struggle for elegance and beauty caused me much distress.

"I no longer felt part of the world," he said. "I felt alone, more alone than ever."

Elegance and beauty were on display Tuesday evening. The show began on a simple note with an outfit from 1962, the year the designer opened his couture house on the Rue Spontini: a navy blue pea coat over white pants.

It was one of Saint Laurent's hallmarks: He put women into pants, including for evening, in such a stunning way that fashionable women who couldn't afford haute couture were grateful for the boost.

The show ended on a glamorous note, with a bevy of draped chiffon dresses from this year's collection, in colors like magenta, sky blue, red and pink.

In between, with the help of veteran models like Texan-born Jerry Hall, Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell, there were all the famous phases of Saint Laurent's work: from sleek daytime pantsuits to safari and jungle outfits to the stunning peasant-chic evening wear for the "Ballets Russes" collection. The 300 or so outfits were all up for sale.

There were the Mondrian dresses of the 1960s - sleeveless shifts with black stripes and big colored squares of blue, red or green on a white background - inspired by the geometric works of painter Piet Mondrian.

From the 1970s, there were the romantic "Ballet Russes" dresses in rich satins, with beaded bolero jackets and toque hats. The colors were fabulous mixes of pink, red, turquoise and purple, or chartreuse and salmon.

From the 1980s there were the "art dresses" - inspired by the paintings of Matisse, Picasso and Gris, to name a few. They were accompanied by wonderful sequined jackets. There was also the Safari look - outfits with wild animal prints.

After a display of all sorts of elegant tuxedos, Saint Laurent came out to take bow - joined by model Laetitia Casta and by actress Catherine Deneuve, his longtime friend and champion, who serenaded him with a French love song.

He was cheered by a glittery crowd that included Paloma Picasso, actresses Lauren Bacall and Jeanne Moreau, former French first ladies Claude Pompidou and Danielle Mitterrand, and current first lady Bernadette Chirac.

"It's sad," said Diane Wolf of New York City and Washington, D.C., of Saint Laurent's retirement. "But he's given so much to the fashion world. We have to be grateful for that." Wolf, a self-described "fashion addict," said she bought her first Saint Laurent outfit in 1980.

While Saint Laurent's house of haute couture is closing, the name will not disappear. In 1999, he sold the rights to his label, ceding control of his Rive Gauche collection, perfumes - including the designer scent Opium - cosmetics and accessories to Gucci Group NV in return for $70 million cash and royalties. Since then, Gucci's creative director, Tom Ford, has been in charge of the ready-to-wear collection, fragrances and cosmetics.

The hubbub over Saint Laurent's departure, and the debate it has provoked over the future of haute couture, has annoyed some of his fellow designers. Christian Lacroix went on French radio earlier Tuesday to deplore what he called "this feeling of attending a national funeral."

"There is too much reverence," he said. "It's as if he were being buried alive in a mausoleum."

Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld chimed in with his frustration. "What a dramatization, this departure!" he complained in Sunday's Journal du Dimanche. "He's making too much of it."

Saint Laurent was born in 1936 in Oran, Algeria. His mother, who loved clothes and wore them with style, was a huge influence on her son.

On a visit to Paris in 1953, Saint Laurent showed his drawings to Vogue editor Michel de Brunhoff, who encouraged the boy to attend design school and soon introduced him to Christian Dior, who immediately hired him.

After Dior's death in 1957, Saint Laurent was appointed Dior's head designer. His first collection, the "trapeze" line of 1958, was a hit, and Saint Laurent was hailed as the next Dior.