Reflections on sunday: Adieu, Father of ‘Le Smoking’ ….

The beginning of this month marked the end of an era in the history of haute couture. If you are the type that picks a shirt or a blouse from a shop hanger without checking the name tagged on its collar, you might find my tales gibberish. However, if you do check before buying, then the name Yves Saint Laurent is not unfamiliar to you, nor is its connection with haute couture. The man behind that name passed away late last Sunday, June 1st 2008. I didn’t meet the name Yves Saint Laurent anywhere near a shop: I met it ‘in the sun’! What is the old geezer on to this time, I can hear you ask. You see, in the mid-1960s, we used to do our shopping of clothes in open-air markets. Remember, those were the days of exile, when we were ‘kraaled’, cattle-like, in refugee camps. Being for cattle-keepers, the sprawling refugee camp of Nyakivala, south-western Uganda, used to boast the biggest, month-end open-air market. Come end of month, then, we used to leave our camp of the ‘hoe-refugees’ of Nshungerezi (denoting refugees who tilled the land for a living) and troop all the way to the camp of the ‘cow-refugees’ of Nyakivala (those who used to rear cattle), where the grand auction of cattle took place. It’s here where anybody who was anybody of the ‘world of trade of Uganda’ used to gather, and where all items for sale used to converge. And it is in this open-air market of Juru, Nyakivala, that I came in contact with Yves. With my group I had been going to this market to do our shopping for some time and I noticed that a certain George William always managed to come out smarter than the rest. Sure, he was well-built, but I could see that there was something about his shirts that made him stand out. And while no one was willing to know why, I saw no problem in asking him how he always managed to pick exceptionally good shirts. H took me aside and showed me the name on his shirt-collar and, in a harsh whisper, commanded: “Buy a shirt only if it has a name like this!” If I could not get an YSL, he advised, I should look for a Christian Dior or a Pierre Cardin.Fr me, from then on, it was nothing but. I never looked at a shirt unless it was an YSL: not even the recommended Christian Dior or Pierre-Cardin. You may chuckle to yourself, looking at me and my frayed, out-dated shirts today, but those halcyon days George William and I used to turn heads! However, it must be clearly understood that we were able to pick these shirts because we’d reached the era of ‘Ready-made’. Before, nobody worth their piece of cloth could be caught wearing something that was not direct from the tailor. The avant-garde fashion then was for you to go to the tailor, who’d take your measurements and, at his convenience, design you a shirt of his fancy. If the sleeves happened not to be the same length, too bad, your limbs were to blame. Tailoring was therefore a lucrative trade, and tailors set up shop everywhere they could. It was a. practice that was not unique to our region. If you’ve read ‘The Old Man and the Medal’ by the highly satirical Cameroonian author, Ferdinand Léopold Oyono, you’ll remember the principal character’s miseries at the hands of an ambitious tailor! Before the arrival of Yves Saint Laurent, tailors had spread gloom not only on the African continent but in the four corners of the globe. Yves put an end to that by introducing what was known as ‘Pret-a-poter’ (‘Ready-made’). Where a tailor had had to take your measurements before making your clothes, Yves estimated the sizes of different people, and mass-produced clothes, as is done today. That is how he changed the history of tailoring. And Yves did not have to have his name dragged in the open-air market mud of Nyakivala in order to become famous. Fame clang to his name soon after he was born in the French colony of Algeria, on 1st August 1936. He was only 17 years old when he joined the house of Christian Dior back home in Paris, as a fashion designer. From there, he never looked back. With his partner, Pierre Bergé, he started his own label, YSL, which became a household name among the world’s rich. It was courtesy of the rich’s penchant for discarding relatively new clothes that we were able to sample Yves’ unique creations! Whatever black holes in his life, Saint- Laurent will be remembered as a hero for revolutionising the tailoring trade, by inventing the beatnik look, the safari suit and the tight trousers. Especially, he will be remembered for inventing ‘le smoking’, a kind of tuxedo suit for women that today has become a way of life. It proved a handy wear for women where before they had never been allowed to wear anything that was not flowing robes. Above all, Yves will be remembered for being the first Western design mogul to use black models for his famous catwalk shows. Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent, may your soul rest in eternal peace! Contact: ingina2@yahoo.co.uk