Dresses from Yves Saint Laurent’s Autumn-Winter 1965 haute couture collection, a tribute to Piet Mondrian, photographed by Peter Knapp for *Elle* magazine’s September 1965 issue.

Saint Laurent, by Irving Penn, Paris, 1957.

Naomi Campbell in an evening dress from Saint Laurent’s Autumn-Winter 1987 haute couture collection, Paris, 1987.

Designs from Saint Laurent’s Autumn-Winter 1976 haute couture collection, a tribute to the Opéra-Ballets Russes, photographed by Guy Bourdin for *Vogue Paris’*s September 1976 issue.

Saint Laurent, by Pierre Bergé, Concarneau, France, 1967.

The model Violeta Sanchez in a dress from Saint Laurent’s Autumn-Winter 1982 haute couture collection, Paris, 1982.

The dancer Zizi Jeanmaire in a Saint Laurent–designed costume, by Jeanloup Sieff, Paris, 1972.

The model and actress Laetitia Casta in a wedding dress from Saint Laurent’s Spring-Summer 2000 haute couture collection, Paris, 2000.

All Eyes on Yves

Richard Avedon, Paolo Roversi, Irving Penn … A new coffee-table book traces Yves Saint Laurent’s life and work through the lenses of the 20th century’s greatest photographers

It was easy to adore the French designer Yves Saint Laurent. Women loved him for his elegant and comfortable designs, chief among them his visionary Le Smoking (1966)—precursor to the power suit. The ferocious Pierre Bergé loved him as a business partner and a life partner, too. And the camera—whether in the hands of Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Cecil Beaton, or others equally renowned—was besotted with him.

Saint Laurent was relentlessly photographed from the start of his career until its end. The beginning goes back to the funeral of his boss and mentor, Christian Dior, who died unexpectedly in 1957, leaving the 21-year-old Saint Laurent, his chosen one, as head designer of Dior. A Life-magazine image by Loomis Dean shows the young designer leaning against a brick wall, eyes downcast, just after the somber procession at the church of Saint-Honoré d’Eylau, in Paris. The picture is in black and white, though one imagines Saint Laurent’s feelings were anything but.