Yves Saint Laurent, considered of one the greatest fashion designers of our time, has died in Paris after a long illness, aged 71. Yves Saint Laurent The openly-gay designer's three-letter monogram became synonymous with style, contributing to numerous fashion movements from 1950 to 2000. When Saint Laurent famously bid adieu to his art at a Paris press conference in January 2002, he read a statement from behind his trademark thick, dark-rimmed glasses. "I tell myself that I created the wardrobe of the contemporary woman, that I participated in the transformation of my times," he said. "For a long time now, I have believed that 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." Saint Laurent is also credited with coining one of fashion's industry's most oft-repeated mantras: "Fashions fade, style is eternal." More detailed obituaries are on the links below.