Who Inspired Yves Saint Laurent? A Look Back at the Designer’s Favorite Muses

Do blondes really have more fun? InYves Saint Laurent’s world, at least, brunettes seemed to be on par with their fair-haired counterparts. The influential designer, who was a master of both tailoring andflou,seemed to find balance in opposites: in fashion, where he popularized the pantsuit, and also dreamt up romantic sartorial fantasies worthy of Proust; in decoration—his art collection included works from Old Masters and Cubists alike; and in muses.

Of the latter there were many—from model Mounia to popstar Sylvie Vartan—but the undisputed queens of his coterie wereBetty Catroux, the cool, androgynous blonde he described as his “twin”; and the impish, brown-haired, baubled bohemianLoulou de la Falaise, who worked by his side in the atelier. Today, as designer Anthony Vaccarello prepares to show his second collection for the iconic house in Paris, we take a look at the beauties who inspired the inimitable Yves himself.

Paloma PicassoPhoto: Ron Galella/WireImage

Victoire DoutreleauPhoto: Robert Doisneau/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Catherine Deneuve Photo: Everett Collection

Loulou de la Falaise (center) with Yves Saint Laurent Photo:Vogue,January 1, 1971

Sylvie Vartan Photo: P. Ullman/Roger Viollet/Getty Images

Mounia (at right) Photo: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images

Betty CatrouxPhotographed by Patrick Lichfield,Vogue,July 1, 1969

Marina SchianoPhoto: Lichfield/Getty Images

（VOGUE）