French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent was BOTD in 1936. Born in Oran in French-occupied Algeria, he spent his childhood designing dresses for his mother and sisters, before moving to Paris in 1953 to study fashion. At 17, he was hired as assistant to revered fashion designer Christian Dior, working for him for five years. Following Dior’s sudden death in 1957, Laurent assumed control over the fashion house. His 1958 spring collection, featuring the Trapeze Dress, saved the company from financial ruin and launched him to international stardom. He went on to create some of the most iconic fashions of the 1960s, including “Le Smoking”, a tuxedo trouser suit for women and the geometric Mondrian dress. Conscripted into the French Army in 1960, he suffered a nervous breakdown and left the House of Dior. He established his own label in 1962, popularising trousers for women, Russian peasant chic, and dressed the 1960s counter-culture in turtlenecks and black leather jackets edged with fur. He launched his first ready-to-wear fashion line in 1967, leading an industry shift towards more affordable fashion, eventually expanding his brand to include accessories, household linens, fragrances and menswear. A long-term friend of actress Catherine Deneuve, he designed her wardrobe for many of her films, notably her iconic role as a high-class escort in Belle de Jour. His life during the 1970s was a curious mix of hedonism and austerity: partying at Studio 54 in New York City, holidays at his home in Marrakech with his business partner and lover Pierre Bergé, and a decades-long struggle with depression and drug addiction. After waning reviews, he sold his ready-to-wear business to Gucci for US$1 billion in 1999, retiring in 2002. In 2007, he was made a grand officer of the Legion d’Honneur. He died in 2008, aged 71, a few days after entering into a civil union with Bergé. His ashes were scattered at his home in Marrakech, which is now a museum. Widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s greatest designers, his brand continues to earn around US$350 million a year. He was played by Pierre Niney and Gaspard Ulliel in competing 2014 French-language biopics.