Into the Light : Yves Saint-Laurent : Structured Beauty
Cats: Icons, Into the Light|Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion Designer and Style Icon
1936 – 2008
Sun: Leo
Ascendant: Aquarius
Moon: Capricorn
Yves Saint-Laurent passed away Sunday evening in Paris. I feel doubly sad every time one of these icons of the post-war-yet-pre-hippie era passes away, they were the last generation that really combined creation with craftsmanship. It’s as if an entire cultural wisdom is disappearing that we will forget ever existed. That generation of designers were first and foremost good tailors, and more than anything else created clothes that enhanced the figure and made the woman beautiful. We are now sold clothes and told it is our figures that are incorrect, and we should mould ourselves to fit the image of some mass-produced product.
Saint-Laurent shot to fame after winning first prize in a cocktail dress design competition at age 17. Dior was so taken by him, he hired him on the spot. By a wierd twist of fate, Dior died suddenly a few years later and Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at age 21. Saint-Laurent has lucky Jupiter in his tenth house of career success. He did receive his share of lucky breaks in his life, as if he were in the right place at the right time.
It wasn’t all luck, however, as he possessed tremendous dedication, ambition and skill, as well. Mars, Pluto, the Sun, Mercury and Venus are all found in his house of daily work, with the last three of those planets in the ruler of fashion, Leo, trining his Jupiter. While the tenth house represents career success, the sixth house represents the day-to-day reality of buckling down and working hard. Moreover, he has Mercury conjunct Venus indicating he can make things of functional, structured beauty. Mars and Pluto in the 6th indicate ambition and a revolutionary attitude; he, in fact, transformed the fashion industry with many of his designs, including pantsuits as symbols of equality for the women of the 60s.
Saint-Laurent had his demons as well. He was born with an extremely nervous disposition and had severe bouts of depression. This can be seen by Uranus in the house of self-esteem square his Sun.
Along with depression, he suffered from loneliness and drug addiction. Depressive Saturn, in his house of identity, opposes the ruler of addiction Neptune in his house of partnership. This could indicate that drugs sometimes served as surrogates for love.
About his work, Saint-Laurent said: “Fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves.” It is truly sad to see such a visionary go.
Read more at cnn.
