Yves Quotes

“Consistently, [Yves] Congar emphasized the distinction between Tradition and traditionalism. The latter was an unyielding commitment to the past. The former was a living principle of commitment to the Beginning, a process that required creativity, inspiration, and a spirit of openness to the present as well as respect for the past.
Two of Congar's works, on reform in the church and on the theology of the laity, proved especially controversial ... Congar believed that reform was a vital and necessary dimension of the church. This was rooted in the distinction between the church and the kingdom of God and in the intermingling in the church of both divine and human elements. In light of the church's constant temptation to revert to institutionalism, it was always necessary to allow room for the prophetic voice, issuing from the margins, even though this might mean attending to uncomfortable truths.”

— Robert Ellsberg

“Speaking of high-end shoe designers, in 2011 it was fascinating to see the design company of Christian Louboutin try to stop the company Yves Saint Laurent from producing high heels with red soles, claiming that Louboutin was the originator of the red sole. Louboutin lost, and I was glad. He was not the first person to paint a sole, and I am wary of patenting a color, like Tiffany blue. Why should we grant that entire history to Louboutin and say there are no predecessors and should be no successors?”

— Tim Gunn

“Yves. You are goint to love him all over again when you meet him, believe me. You're married.'
'I'm what? But I can't be more than eighteen!'
'My son is very persuasive,' said Saul proudly.”

— Joss Stirling

“Yves did not like showers, he preferred long, scalding baths, with newspapers, cigarettes, and whiskey on a chair next to the bathtub, and with Eric nearby to talk to, to shampoo his hair, and to scrub his back.”

— James Baldwin

“I went to Brown to be a French professor, and I didn't know what I was doing except that I loved French. When I got to Paris and I could speak French, I know how much it helped me to establish relationships with Karl Lagerfeld, with the late Yves St. Laurent. French, it just helps you if you're in fashion. The French people started style.”

— Andre Leon Talley

“The hands of Yves Saint Laurent are something really important - two real characters on their own.”

— Pierre Niney

“One night at a party, a really drunk guy came up to me and said, 'Whoa you look like Yves Saint Laurent' because I was wearing a turtleneck. I'd love to track that guy down and tell him that he gave pretty good casting advice.”

— Pierre Niney

“I am truly honoured to become ambassadress for Yves Saint Laurent. The brand's modern vision of beauty is very inspiring, and I am particularly proud to represent such an audacious archetype of woman.”

— Edie Campbell

“What I like about Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium is that it's an understated scent that's somehow familiar.”

— Edie Campbell

“All the drawings and sketches and clothes of Yves Saint Laurent in the '70s were so colorful, so bright.”

— Frida Giannini

“Yves Saint Laurent was the first person who made me feel like a woman.”

— Laetitia Casta

“I was kind of ashamed of my bourgeois family as a teenager, I guess - I had dreadlocks, shopped in thrift stores and pretended I had no money. At that time, I would have spat on a girl who was buying Yves Saint Laurent.”

— Lou Doillon

“My earliest influences were Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent.”

— Bella Freud

“Minimalism? It is something I appreciate as an art form but leave to others - unless you count a collection of warhorse-workwear Yves Saint Laurent trouser suits. Maybe my penchant for hippie-deluxe eccentricity came from an escapist dream of a different world. It was tough being a working mom in the 1970s.”

— Suzy Menkes

“Jean-Yves looked up at his mother's face, her greying chignon, her harsh features: it was difficult to feel a rush of tenderness, of affection for this woman; as far back as he could remember, she had never really been one for hugs; it was equally difficult to imagine her in the role of a sensual lover, a slut. He suddenly realised that his father must have been bored shitless his whole life. He felt terribly shocked by this, his hands tensed on the edge of the table: this time it was irreparable, it was definitive. In despair, he tried to recall a moment when he had seen his father beaming, happy, genuinely glad to be alive.”

— Michel Houellebecq

“Haute couture is a legitimate subject for Yves Saint Laurent and could resume one day.”

— Hedi Slimane

“I like Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. I have some great Balenciaga jackets and I'm shoe crazy.”

— Melanie Laurent

“I think almost every player has a few very good friends on tour. Mine are: Yves Allegro, Roger Federer, Michael Lammer, and Ivo Klec.”

— Marco Chiudinelli

“I love Yves Saint Laurent. I love Chanel. And Versace! Such beautiful gowns!”

— Tamala Jones

“I love Yves Saint Laurent and Giambattista Valli and Givenchy, and I get given quite a lot, but perhaps nothing is as wonderful as the white fake leather trench coat I got when I was 15.”

— Natalia Vodianova

“I love French style from the Thirties and Forties. French movie stars like Jean Gabin and Yves Montand had so much natural, effortless style.”

— Vincent Cassel

“I am a makeup junkie ... Yves St. Laurent, Christian Dior, and anything else that looks good.”

— Julia Barr

“I've spent a lot on clothes. I'm not kidding when I say I could have bought several country homes with the money. I've also given a lot away over time. I had a lovely Yves Saint Laurent jacket that I'd only worn once or twice, but I'm one for spring cleaning rather than storing my clothes.”

— Donna Air

“When I first got Yves Saint Laurent Couture, I didn't know how to take off a cape. I would ask Katoucha and Dalma - the real divas of the runway - 'Can you show me?' I've never been afraid to ask for help.”

— Naomi Campbell

“At Yves Saint Laurent, I felt like the son-in-law - like I was part of the family, but not quite. When I was fired, I felt like the widow.”

— Alber Elbaz

“Like my father and grandfather, Philippe and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, I've dedicated my life to exploring and protecting our seas, in large part through documentary film.”

— Philippe Cousteau, Jr.

“Yves Saint Laurent was my first fashion show. I wore his tuxedo. And Helmut Newton was my first photographer, in 1973. I was really very lucky. I had an amazing career.”

— Jerry Hall

“I stuck out more in an English public school than I would have had I marched in a May Day parade with the Red Army in Moscow or sashayed the Yves St. Laurent catwalk with supermodels or hunted seals with the Inuit or - well, you get the idea.”

— Rabih Alameddine

“I worked with the best - Givenchy, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent - and it gave me an ability to be confident. It turned me into a CEO and a creative director and a brand.”

— Kimora Lee Simmons

“I am not really sure that Diana Vreeland did Yves Saint Laurent a favor, as opposed to the world, by putting that exhibition at the Met in 1983. Because I'm sure that Saint Laurent started looking back at his own work. You see that with artists, don't you? Once they get their first retrospective, it's really hard for them to push ahead.”

— Suzy Menkes

“Yves Saint Laurent will never go out of business so long as I'm buying mountains of Touche Eclat.”

— Deirdre O'Kane

“Next to my husband, and along with Marlon Brando, I think that Yves Montand is the most attractive man I've ever met.”

— Marilyn Monroe

“Yves Saint Laurent gave women power, Chanel liberated them and when I joined Lanvin, I thought 'what do I bring to women? One day, I received an SMS from a friend in New York - she was in a taxi on the way to court to face her arsehole ex-husband, and she said to me 'Alber, I am wearing a Lanvin dress, and I feel so protected.' That to me was the biggest compliment I ever received. To have a 500 gram piece of silk make her feel protected - that made me very happy indeed.”

— Alber Elbaz

“Follow me. Yves held out a hand, expecting me to take it.
I had had enough of being pushed about, towed here,
shoved there. Lead the way, O master.
He raised an eyebrow at my sarcasm. Glad to see you
have seen the light. I only want what's best for you.
Mr Arrogant or what?
I don't mean it like that. He shook his head, telling
himself off. I just want to make this right but I seem to be
doing it all wrong.
Then let me go.
That would be a tragedy. Give me a chance here.
Please.”

— Joss Stirling

“I wasn't sure, but I thought it kind of suited me. With the right shoes and everything." I displayed the new blue pumps. "I wanted to look, you know, pretty."
Yves gaped. I felt a little bit sorry for him. "Um ... Phee, I don't know what to say."
I let my bright expression dim. "You ... you think I look horrible in it?" My voice rose in a convincing squeak of distress.
He put his hands on my soulders. "No, you look great. You always look great, no matter what you're wearing."
Zed laughed. "Ouch. Wrong thing to say.”

— Joss Stirling

“Xav tugged Yves off me and handed me the call button. You'll be needing this, Phee, when my irritating little squirt of a brother bothers you again. Just press and the nurses will come running. One of them looks like a pro-wrestler, so she'll make short work of him.”

— Joss Stirling

“I don't think there is the same space for fashion designers to create like Yves was doing it. So, it's that he's one of the last, great geniuses in fashion.”

— Gaspard Ulliel

“I view all art as an effort to translate brain concepts into a work. These brain concepts are synthetic ones - the result of many experiences. But a single work of art, or even a series of works, more often than not cannot translate these synthetic concepts adequately. Yves Saint Laurent once said that he suffered greatly when creating. He is not alone in that. Most artists do the same and say as much.”

— Semir Zeki

“I believe in the Yves Saint Laurent woman who either has her hands in the pockets of her pantsuit or is holding her lover's hand. She doesn't need a bag.”

— Carine Roitfeld

“Fashions fade, style is eternal. - Yves Saint-LaurentThe most important thing to remember is that you can wear all the greatest clothes and all the greatest shoes, but you've got to have a good spirit on the inside. That's what's really going to make you look like you're ready to rock the world. - Alicia KeysIt's a new era in fashion - there are no rules. It's all about the individual and personal style, wearing high-end, low-end, classic labels, and up-and-coming designers all together.”

— Alexander McQueen

“Yves Saint Laurent liked women to put their hands in their pockets, or to hold cigarettes, and act a bit like boys. It was to give an impression of composure, some self-assurance, and to counter the feminine appearance.”

— Carine Roitfeld

“Yves Saint Laurent is a young man of excellent taste; the more he copies me the more taste he displays.”

— Coco Chanel

“My mom worked at [American] Vogue before I was born. She has always been fashion-minded. I grew up with original Yves Saint Laurent sketches on the wall in our house. A lot of that rubbed off on me.”

— Zachary Cole Smith