YSL: 49 years of shock and genius

The YSL look: From the 2001 spring-summer collection

By CNN's Diana Muriel

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Haute couture legend Yves Saint Laurent, who has just announced his retirement, has proved an inspiration to generations of new designers for almost 50 years.

Algerian-born, he did not have long to wait before he was discovered.

At the age of 17 his drawings were spotted by Paris Vogue -- and the editor introduced him to Christian Dior that same year ... 1953.

Saint Laurent trained under Dior ... taking over the helm at the leading fashion house on Dior's death in 1957.

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The critics and the clients were overwhelmed by his first show a year later.

The shy, bespectacled 21-year-old took refuge on a balcony from the adoring fans below.

His signature item ... the revolutionary trapeze dress -- a total break with the conformity of post-World War II fashion.

It was just the starting point ... Saint Laurent took Paris by storm with his masculine trouser suits for women.

Called "Le Smoking" they featured, for the first time on the catwalk -- see-through shirts -- that shocked and delighted the public.

Celebrities gave the look their blessing ... Bianca Jagger wore a white trouser suit on her wedding day.

But that was not all ... YSL as he became known designed a Russian peasant look ... as well as, drawing on his north African roots, kaftans ... and safari suits.

YSL: His designs were a total break from postwar conformity

He borrowed from the arts ... featuring Mondrian and Picasso-inspired designs.

Fashion designer Ben de Lisi says Saint Laurent is an inspriation for a whole new generation of designers.

"We sit here and marvel at the fact that some of the young British names that have taken over the helms of great Paris houses...

"They've completely messed things up and given us newness -- well way back in the sixties he was doing for couture crocodile biker jackets based on Marlon Brando and trimmed in mink. He was doing alligator trousers and that was just unheard of."

And it was not just for women.

Lifetime award

In 1969 Saint Laurent pioneered designer menswear -- with media stars like Jagger, Bowie and Warhol in mind.

Out went the pin-stripes -- in came something modern men wanted to wear.

By this time Saint Laurent had launched his own fashion house -- under the guidance of his business associate and partner, Pierre Berge.

In 1962 he showed his first pret-a-porter collection -- and opened his first shop in Paris -- on the trendy Left Bank.

From the 1997 spring-summer show

Saint Laurent took as his muse the actress Catherine Deneuve -- she still wears only his designs.

And he found a champion in American Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

Vreeland mounted a retrospective of Saint Laurent's work in 1983 at the Museum of Metropolitian Art in New York -- the first time a living fashion designer had been so honoured.

Saint Laurent won the admiration of both competitors and critics alike... the Council of Fashion Designers of America presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 1999.

But after forty years in the business -- Saint Laurent, increasingly dogged by ill-health -- was slowing down.

Some critics say his work was becoming repetitious.

"I think it has to be said that whilst he's an incredible legend and a very succesful designer and he gave fashion so much, the collections have just been re-coloured and reworked but the same thing," says de Lisi.

In 1999 he sold the rights to the YSL brand to Gucci for $70 million... retaining control of haute couture. But since then, rumours grew of a split with Gucci designer Tom Ford.

Observers said it was no accident that at the January 2000 haute couture show, Saint Laurent chose the 1980s hit song "I Will Survive" to accompany him down the catwalk.

Saint Laurent received a standing ovation for that collection ... as he has done for every collection he has ever produced.