Last year, two biopics were made about storied designer Yves Saint Laurent. The first, which hit the big screen last summer, was “Yves Saint Laurent,” director Jalil Lespert’s stylish, if sedate, ode to the late icon, played by YSL doppelgänger Pierre Niney (who won a César Award for his performance).
The second, “Saint Laurent,” is Bertrand Bonello’s equally stylish interpretation, featuring French heartthrob — and Chanel ambassador — Gaspard Ulliel in the lead role. In short: It’s grittier, artier, sexier and finally out in select theaters this Friday.
But before you get your fill of the film’s impeccable costumes, coke-fueled parties and male full-frontal, take in these five lesser-known details from the pioneering designer’s incredible, less-than-saintly life.
He sued Christian Dior
Actually, he sued the brand, not his legendary mentor, who died of a heart attack in 1957, when a then-21-year-old Saint Laurent became head honcho of the company. In 1960, the Algerian-born designer was forced back to his homeland to fight in its war for independence. By the time he returned to France the same year (his military stint was cut short after a mental breakdown), he’d lost his job, so he sued Dior for breach of contract. The money awarded was used to open his namesake fashion house.
He posed nude
Though innately shy and soft-spoken, Saint Laurent stripped down to appear in the 1971 campaign for his first men’s fragrance, “Pour Homme.” The image not only confronted male nudity taboos but rebuffed the conventional machismo prevalent in advertising at the time.
In 1997, the designer’s longtime partner Pierre Bergé (played by Jérémie Renier) told a Dutch magazine: “It was just provocation on the part of Yves Saint Laurent. The picture didn’t specifically target the gay population, even though it resonated strongly among them. In any case the photo was hardly published at the time. Just barely in the French press. It was only much later on that it became an almost mythical icon.”
He stole Karl Lagerfeld’s boyfriend
Well, technically they shared him — and we’ll use the terms “dated” and “boyfriend” very loosely. The man in question is Jacques de Bascher de Beaumarchais, an affluent quasi-aristocrat played in the film by Louis Garrel. In the early ’70s, de Bascher became the darling of the Parisian fashion scene and the object of Lagerfeld’s affection. Then, the It boy began an affair with Saint Laurent in 1973, fueling the rivalry between the two influential designers. The film suggests Bergé prompted their split. Either way, the relationship didn’t last, and the lothario died of complications from AIDS in 1989.
He loved a wild party
The new film makes this abundantly clear. From all-night romps with muses Betty Catroux (played by model Aymeline Valade) and Loulou de la Falaise (Léa Seydoux) in crowded Parisian dens to friends-only hashish powwows in his beloved Marrakech, YSL was the first word in over-the-top fêtes.
Perhaps the biggest (not seen in the movie) was the 1978 bash thrown to celebrate the launch of his controversial “Opium” fragrance. The scent spurred protest among anti-drug and Chinese-American groups and was banned in several countries.
So what did Yves do? He packed more than 800 well-heeled guests — including Cher, Truman Capote and Diana Vreeland — into an East Harbor yacht, where they were entertained by fireworks, the scent of some 2,000 Hawaiian orchids, and a 1,000-pound bronze Buddha. Saint Laurent dropped about $300,000 in total — which, adjusted for inflation, comes to more than $1 million.
Of course, the fun didn’t stop there: After the Champagne ran dry, everyone hustled to Studio 54 for the afterparty.
He had a dark side
We all have our demons, and Saint Laurent’s included a lifelong struggle with alcoholism, drug addiction and manic depression — all compounded by the intense scrutiny and pressures of fame. “When you have a relationship with an alcoholic, a drug user, you are forced to have very difficult relations,” Bergé told the New York Times in 2011, in his first interview following YSL’s death from brain cancer in 2008. “What can we do? Nothing. Just to accept the fact. To try to help, yes, which I did, with not many successes. But I did it.”