UPDATE 4-French fashion king Yves Saint Laurent dies
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PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - French fashion king Yves Saint Laurent, hailed for revolutionising the way women dressed, died on Sunday. He was 71 and had been in poor health for some time.
The reclusive Saint Laurent, whose couture creations secured fine art status across the world, ruled the French fashion scene from the age of 21 thanks to ground-breaking designs that made him a cultural icon of the 20th century.
Saint Laurent retired from haute couture in 2002 and French radio said he died at his Paris flat.
"He was someone who was very shy and introverted, who had only very few friends and hid himself from the world," Saint Laurent's long-time friend and business partner Pierre Berge told France Info radio.
"(Gabrielle) Chanel gave women freedom. Yves Saint Laurent gave them power," said Berge, who gave no details of the death.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Saint Laurent as a creative genius. "He was convinced that beauty was a luxury that every man and woman needed," Sarkozy said in a statement.
Saint Laurent was credited with changing forever what women wore and was the first designer to make luxury labels accessible to a wider audience through innovative read-to-wear collections.
He created signature looks, making the trouser-suit a daytime staple and the tuxedo an elegant option. He popularised safari jackets and thigh-high boots, and his transparent blouses made near-nudity acceptable in high society.
His square-shouldered suits became classics, and he simplified evening-wear, moving from shocking satins to flowing white crepe of Hellenic purity.
"He completely revamped a woman's wardrobe," luxury underwear designer Chantal Thomass told French radio. "His fashion was full of colour and inspired by art. He travelled a lot in his mind."
FAME AND TRAUMA
The eldest child of a wealthy French industrialist, Saint Laurent was born and grew up in the then French colony of Algeria and showed a talent for design, making clothes for his younger sisters' dolls.
At 17 he entered a Paris fashion school, and his sketch for a cocktail dress won first prize in an annual contest. Continued...
