Yves St Laurent has died.

    This may not seem significant to most people, but it certainly does to me. I was sad and nostalgic when he decided to retire, but now that he’s gone forever, it’s a more finite end to a remarkable era of fashion, art, design, creativity, expression, and innovation. It’s a time of such radical revolution that despite all the wonders of technology available to us, somehow we still have no been able to rekindle.

It’s remarkable to me that, considering the great advancements and availability of technology, clothes are becoming simpler, smaller, less detailed, less innovative. Fads seem more like things that are simply tacked onto the top of very basic repetitive shells, rather than the complete revolution of shape and aesthetic that we saw in the heyday of Chanel, Dior, and St Laurent. Where’s the innovation? Our tools are better than ever, yet we haven’t risen to the opportunity.

Looking back, I’ve always marveled at the complexity of garments made one, two, three hundred years ago and more. Looking at how detailed, how extensive, how gorgeous those garments were – for both men and women – it’s so easy for us with our modern conveniences to forget just what it took back then to create such clothing. All that embroidery, all that detail, all the layers, all the construction, all the undergarments you don’t even see; all the hard work, all the man-hours, all the effort and care that went into everything. And it was all done with such comparatively crude equipment.

    But today? Now? Think of the amazing tools we have at our disposal. But even more importantly, those tools are available to practically anyone. Techniques can be studied easily, inexpensively. Even the cheaper sewing machines out there are a million times better than what anyone had back in the 18th century. We can create so much more, so much better, and so much faster. Yet do we for the most part create anything as wondrous as they did?

    Yves St Laurent may not have made garments as elaborate as those centuries ago. The point isn’t how elaborate it is, but rather how revolutionary, how different, how radical; how comparable to the tools at your disposal. Do you make the most out of what you’re given? Does your creativity really reach for the outer edge of possibility?

    Yves St Laurent’s did. Bear in mind, this is the man who invented the ladies’ pantsuit. He completely revolutionized the aesthetic of womens wear. He took a traditional shape, tore it down, and rebuilt something completely new, completely unfamiliar, and yet so beautifully simple. So many people have copied him, to the point where pantsuits are now completely commonplace. But no one did it as elegantly as he did, and he did it first.

I’ve been dying to see that kind of originality in fashion today. I’ve been craving it so completely. We throw that word around so much, but I still haven’t seen it truly applied to someone who deserves it. The best familiar example I can think of was Christian Siriano, the (unfortunate) winner of the latest season of Project Runway. Oh how I cringed every time the judges applauded him for his originality. I’m sorry, but if you go back through that season and you look at the entirety of his garments (go ahead, you can), you’ll see the same exact shape and the same exact details repeated again and again. His look was a tight, straight pant or skirt, with a tight ill-fitting top in a basic inverted triangle shape, with some sort of ruffle down the front. Again and again and again. Even if he repeated this same idea, it could be called original if he’d come up with it on his own. But I’ve seen that same wardrobe in shopping malls across the country for years. Is that original? No. It’s just tacking a ruffle onto a worn out silhouette.

    I will certainly miss Yves St Laurent; for his contributions to style, art, fashion, femininity, social change, and the aesthetic of our daily lives. I sincerely hope that one day someone will be able to carry on the legacy of his era of design and again revolutionize the way we shape our appearances, the way we perceive beauty; the way we see the world. Even if you go through life oblivious to the world of fashion, it surrounds you. It’s a part of your life. Let’s hope we can carry on that legacy and enrich our lives through the beauty of exquisitely beautiful, elegant, tasteful clothing.