Yves Saint Laurent — 伊夫·圣洛朗 　

Born in 1936, Yves Saint Laurent grew up in Oran, Algeria. At 17, he left for Paris where he showed his drawings to Michel de Brunhoff, director of Vogue, who published several of them immediately. After a stint at fashion school, Saint Laurent was introduced to Christian Dior by de Brunhoff and worked for Dior until his death in 1957. After taking over as Art Director for Dior, he launched his first collection for the company, the Ligne Trapéze, that year. It was a resounding success the world over and won him Neiman Marcus Oscar.

drawings： 图画，画像；17岁的时候，伊夫·圣洛朗把作品拿给时尚杂志的Brunhoff看，Brunhoff将他介绍给克利斯蒂安·迪奥，圣洛朗一直工作到1957年迪奥逝世。
Art Director：艺术总监。
resounding： 彻底的，十足的；圣洛朗为迪奥设计的第一套服装获得了服装界大奖。

In 1960, Saint Laurent created his revolutionary "Beat Look" collection which used couture to refine streetstyle. However, his dramatic designs were too much for the house of Dior and a year later they lifted bars on his national service. When he returned from service, Saint Laurent set up his own fashion house with Pierre Bergé and began creating innovative collections that rocked the establishment. In 1966, he introduced le smoking, his now legendary smoking suit, which prompted the consequent androgynous revolution. He is now credited with the establishment of the trousersuit in women’s fashion.

couture： 时装店。
innovative：创新的，革新的；迪奥公司接受不了圣洛朗设计的前卫服装，于是在1961年，他与朋友一起创立了自己的时装店。

In October 1998, Yves Saint Laurent showed his last ready-to-wear collection for the Rive Gauche label he had founded more than 30 years before. But, according to a sorrowful spokeswoman, the 61-year old designer was simply “too overwrought” to take his final bow. US designer Alber Elbaz was hand-picked to succeed him, but found that his career there was swiftly terminated after the Italian fashion Gucci bought full control of the business at the end of 1999.

ready-to-wear：现成的，做好的；1998年，圣洛朗做了他最后一次的服装展示。
overwrought：过度疲劳的。
terminate： 终止；1999年底，意大利的Gucci公司买下了圣洛朗的所有产业。

These days the reach of the Saint Laurent empire is vast: in addition to Haute Couture, the company now produces menswear, furs, jewellery, perfumes and a range of accessories, all of which are distributed worldwide. Over the years, Saint Laurent himself has received countless accolades and in 1985 was decorated with a Knighthood of the Legion of Honour by President Francois Mitterand. In 1995, he was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour.

accessories：零件，附件。
accolade：赞许，爵位；1985年圣洛朗被法国总统密特朗授予骑士团骑士称号，95年被又提升为指挥官。