Where fashion is elevated to art
“Yves St. Laurent: His Life and Times” and “Yves St. Laurent: 5, Avenue Marceau,” both by David Teboul, offer an engrossing and illuminating portrait of the shy designer who brought an era in French haute couture to an end with his retirement in 2002, concluding a career of more than four decades in which he liberated fashion from its sacred aura, in the words of his friend and colleague, the magisterial fashion authority Edmonde Charles-Roux.
Teboul’s “His Life and Times” traverses the arc of St. Laurent’s life and career, intent on giving an impression of the man and his work rather than lots of facts and information typical of the traditional documentary. He did get St. Laurent to sit down before a camera for the first time for an extended interview. No longer as thin as he once was but appearing healthy, the soft-spoken St. Laurent emerges as a reflective, thoughtful man who is as candid about what the creative process is for him as he is about his homosexuality.
St. Laurent was born in 1936 in Oran, Algeria, and he speaks about his happy childhood there in a large and prosperous French colonial family and shares photos of his childhood home, a beautiful estate by the sea. He was adored by his parents, although his father was often away. His still striking-looking mother, with whom he came to France when he was 16, recalls that at the age of 3 little Yves was persuading an aunt to change into a more attractive dress. The desire to become a fashion designer surfaced early, but St. Laurent admits that with the advent of puberty he suffered greatly on account of his sexual orientation until he arrived in France, where he swiftly won an important fashion prize. Christian Dior was so taken with his designs, sent unsolicited, that he took him on as an assistant. St. Laurent was only 17 -- and only 20 when he succeeded Dior upon his death.
Not only were St. Laurent’s more than 80 collections in over 40 years extensively filmed, but as shy as he is, St. Laurent submitted to countless brief filmed interviews over the years, providing much for Teboul to draw upon. Early on, St. Laurent explains that his inspiration starts with the woman’s body, which is far more important to him than the construction of a gown for its own sake. What is most impressive about both films is that they show just how beautiful St. Laurent’s clothes are and how beautiful women look wearing them.
After a meteoric start at Dior, St. Laurent suffered somewhat of a setback with his 1960 collection, followed by a traumatic experience with military duty that led to a breakdown -- and an excuse for the House of Dior management to fire him. By then he had met Pierre Berge, the man who would become his partner in his personal and professional life, with whom he would enjoy phenomenal success along with some stormy moments. St. Laurent says that in his personal life Berge, a legendarily shrewd businessman, was someone he could lean on. Berge, a dapper man in his 70s, says St. Laurent is unlucky in that he is bored with himself -- that he is plagued with the narcissism and megalomania that go with being an artist.
St. Laurent concedes that he is too self-critical to be happy but says he was more carefree when he was younger. His friend, the stunning blond Betty Catroux, suggests that she and St. Laurent shared decidedly adventurous times in their youth. In his work, the sketching of a design comes easily, and when it doesn’t, he stops to resume later on, but translating the sketch into a finished gown can be painful for him, with the pleasure coming only afterward.
“The main thing is to last” is St. Laurent’s final remark in “His Life and Times.” And “I am the only one left after 42 years, the last couturier, the last house of couture” is his first remark in “5, Avenue Marceau.” The year of both films is 2001, and Teboul got to St. Laurent just in time, for the following year the designer announced his retirement. For their second collaboration, which also resulted in a book of photographs of the same name, St. Laurent allowed Teboul to photograph for three months in his salon and workshop as he was creating one of his final collections.
It is a meticulous record of a complex creative process. In an atmosphere of mutual respect and intense dedication and concentration, St. Laurent oversees a large team of gifted professionals as they translate his ever-changing vision into creations of exquisite beauty. There is full-throttle attention to detail: The fabric must drape just so; should a sleeve be a tad bigger? Or smaller? What color should the fabric be? What kind of fabric? The questions that St. Laurent asks of himself and his team, and his colleagues of him, are seemingly endless. Absolutely nothing is overlooked, and everyone goes home exhausted. Yet invariably, when a model dons a gown for St. Laurent’s final approval as he sits in his main salon, he pronounces it “ravishing.”
“His Life and Times” is a splendid introduction, but “5, Avenue Marceau” is the main course, a timeless portrait of an artist at work in his atelier, guiding his associates with kindness and gratitude in an intricate collaboration.
In its way, “5, Avenue Marceau” is a celebration of human endeavor, of individuals working together in a civilized, harmonious manner toward a common goal. That the goal is as rarefied as high fashion makes it no less heartening.
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‘Yves St. Laurent’
MPAA rating: Unrated
Times guidelines: Brief nudity; suitable for older children
An Empire Pictures release. Director David Teboul. Executive producer Christian Baute. Cinematographers for “His Life and Times” Philippe Pavans Petit de Ceccatty and Helene Louvart. Cinematographer for “5, Avenue Marceau” Caroline Champetier. Editor for “His Life and Times” Annette Dutertre. Editor for “5, Avenue Marceau” Martine Giordano. In French, with English subtitles. Running time for “His Life and Times”: 1 hour, 18 minutes; for “5, Avenue Marceau”: 1 hour, 25 minutes.
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