YSL through time: Yves Saint Laurent's life in pictures

Yves Saint-Laurent at work at his drawing table, 1961.

Born in 1936 in Oran (Algeria), Yves-Mathieu Saint-Laurent moved to Paris at the age of 17. He started out working as a design assistant at Christian Dior in 1955. Following Dior's sudden death in 1957, he took over the management of the Dior house.

In 1958, he met Pierre Bergé, who was to become his partner and business partner. Pierre helped Yves set up his own couture label in 1961. This photo shows Yves working on his first collection, which was an instant hit.

• Early days
• Photo: Yves Saint-Laurent backstage at a 1958 fashion show
• Yves Saint Laurent and his models in 1960
• The Yves Saint Laurent smoking jacket (2002)
• No stranger to controversy
• Yves Saint Laurent and Mounia
• Sculpture dresses from 1969 on the catwalk in 2002
• Yves Saint Laurent in his office, 1998
• Yves Saint Laurent with his dog Moujik
• Carla Bruni modelling YSL's Matisse dove dress
• Yves Saint Laurent with Alek Wek and Efke
• Yves Saint Laurent's see-through smoking jacket
• Yves Saint Laurent haute couture gown from 1999
• Yves Saint Laurent's muse Laetitia Casta on the runway in 1999
• Yves Saint Laurent with muses Catherine Deneuve and Laetitia Casta
• YSL today, the artistic directors
• YSL designs by Stefano Pilati