What You Didn't Know About Yves Saint Laurent 1999
Words by Marshall Morton
[5 minute read]
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have likely seen the floral ensemble donned by Hailey Bieber over halloween weekend which has been turning heads (practically breaking necks).
Captioned “inspo: YSL haute couture 1999 🌺” the look was more specifically a reference to the wedding bikini designed for Laetitia Casta which featured in the show, and was itself a reference to a floral bikini designed by Yves Saint Lauren and worn by Jackie Kennedy in 1968.
By this point flowers are considered something of a staple when one thinks back on YSL, Umberto Pasti is quoted as having written “In a deep neckline or under the chin, behind an ear, at the ankle, at the waist, in the mouth, at the wrists, in the hair, on a hat or laid on a shoulder, looped inside a belt … the Saint Laurent woman has always worn a flower.”
Saint Laurent 1999 however, had a lot more going on than simply flowers.
Yves Saint Laurent - Ready-To-Wear - Runway Collection - WomenSpring / Summer 1999 (Tom Ford)
In 1999 YSL was acquired by Gucci who infamously brought Tom Ford on to design their ready-to-wear collection, while Yves Saint Laurent would remain on board to produce Haute Couture – a move which it could be speculated would eventually result in the genesis of a bad blood bond between the two designers that began with Saint Laurent taunting that “The poor guy does what he can,” with regards to Ford.
Saint Laurent is also alleged to have sent a series of scalding letters to Ford including one which read “In 13 minutes, you have managed to destroy 40 years of my work.”
The feud concluded with Tom Ford stating years later that “Yves and his partner, Pierre Bergé, were so difficult and so evil [that they] made my life such misery,” the designer who perhaps wishes to leave the past behind emphasised his disconnect from the label adding that “I don’t even remember much about my time at Yves Saint Laurent – though I do think some of my best collections were [there].”
Yves Saint Laurent - Haute Couture - Runway Collection - WomenSpring / Summer 1999 (Yves Saint Laurent)
The 1999 Haute Couture show itself was mostly well received and served several iconic looks that would become synonymous with the archetype of the savvy 90’s business woman. Racy evening gowns took front stage alongside Saint Laurent’s signature blazer constructions which were underlined with an ensemble of sheer garments that served as yet another reference to his work from the 60’s – which was notorious for drawing indignation from feminists (this in spite of the fact that his collections had become synonymous with the movement by virtue of his famed Le Smoking suit which was considered revolutionary in womenswear and had a history of earning women a blacklisting at most high end institutions and restaurants).
Some women of the time found it undignified that the brand had a tendency to expose women, yet would not do the same with men – an issue which Saint Laurent soon resolved by posing himself nude for Jeanloup Sieff's first fragrance for men, the YSL Pour homme.
Swinging back to 1999, Saint Laurent was able to evoke an air of modernity by virtue of his decision to spotlight prominent African models (including Naomi Campbell) in his show. The collection was acclaimed by a new age of feminists who were poised for the millennium shift and more inclined to free the nipple. Prior to the debut of the following years collection (2000) Pierre Bergé would state that "Yves Saint Laurent is not about the past and it's not about the future. It is eminently contemporary,"a sentiment which held true.
The real showstopper of the affair however was the famed wedding bikini which Yves designed specifically for Laetitia Casta who is still considered to be Saint Laurent's last great muse.
Jackie Kennedy 1968 (Left) Laetitia Casta 1999 (Centre) and Hailey Bieber 2022 (right)
in variations of Yves Saint Laurent's floral wedding bikini.
The Wedding Bikini – which has seen it’s resurgence to relevance in light of the attention garnered by Hailey Bieber’s decision to revive the look for halloween – is undoubtedly stunning and by all means a masterpiece, it evokes the essence of femininity and is seemingly inspired by the story of the garden of eden and humanity's first canonical bride Eve.
While it should be noted that the outfit is somewhat synonymous with women encapsulating what is traditionally considered to be the ‘perfect model body type’ it would be fair to assume that due to its construction it has the potential to emphasise the natural beauty of women in a broader spectrum of shapes.
Here at Society we are excited to see if the look will resurface and reclaim its seat in the fashion zeitgeist, perhaps inspiring an organic remaster that could find a place alongside other nature inspired collections such as Loewe’s 2023 Spring collection.