The world of fashion was today mourning Yves Saint Laurent, one of the greatest designers of the 20th century.

Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent's former lover and business partner, described him as a "true creator" who had empowered women.

The 71-year-old died at his Paris home yesterday after a long illness.

Enlarge 

Yves Saint Laurent has died at the age of 71 after a long illness. Above, the French designer at a 1996 show with supermodels Claudia Schiffer in a wedding dress, Karen Mulder, left, and Carla Bruni, right, who is now married to President Nicolas Sarkozy

He had retired in 2002, bowing out with a valedictory fashion show which featured his work across the decades.

Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche as its elegant headquarters.

Evening Standard fashion editor Laura Craik said: "Yves Saint Laurent changed the face of fashion. He was utterly revolutionary.

The designer as a young man with ballerina Colette Marchand during rehearsals for Cerrano de Bergerac

"It is hard to pick his biggest legacy, but it is probably Le Smoking, the ultra-elegant tuxedo jacket which completely altered the way that women dressed for evening, providing a new template of modernity that was an alternative to the evening dress. His legacy will live on for ever."

Berge, who worked with Saint Laurent for almost 40 years, said Chanel "gave women freedom" and that Saint Laurent "gave them power".

"In this sense he was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society," he said. "That's how he transformed society and that's how he transformed women."

Enlarge 

Saint Laurent's muse Kate Moss in this year's Le Smoking

Famous French embroiderer Francois Lesage, who worked with him for 40 years was "devastated" by news of his death.

"I have never known a designer who would give so much thought to something when it was proposed to him," he told French TV. "It is a great grief for me."

French president Nicolas Sarkozy said Saint Laurent had been "the first to elevate haute couture to the rank of art and that gave him global influence.

Pioneering: Kate Moss in some of the latest YSL fashions

Return: Naomi Campbell says she feel 'blessed' to be back at YSL

"He infused his label with his creative genius, elegant and refined personality ... because he was convinced that beauty was a necessary luxury for all men and all women," he added.

Saint Laurent was born on 1 August 1936, in Oran, Algeria, where his father was a shipping executive.

He emerged as a promising designer at the age of 17, winning first prize in a contest for a cocktail dress design.

A year later in 1954, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture in Paris, but student life lasted only three months.

He was introduced to Christian Dior, then regarded as the greatest creator of his day, and Dior was so impressed with Saint Laurent's talent that he hired him on the spot.

When Dior died suddenly in 1957, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at the age of 21.

In 1960, Saint Laurent was drafted into military service  -  an experience that shattered him. Within the year he was given a medical discharge for nervous depression.

Two years later he opened his own fashion house with Berge.

In 1966 he designed his first "Le Smoking" with trousers for evening wear which was updated for every subsequent collection.

In 1999, Saint Laurent sold the rights of his label to Gucci Group NV, ceding control of his Rive Gauche collection, fragrances, cosmetics and accessories for around £45 million.

Yves Saint Laurent (with Schiffer in 1996) was one of the greatest designers of the 20th century

When he bowed out in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his inner battles.

"I've known fear and terrible solitude," he said.

"Tranquillisers and drugs, those phony friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."

Enlarge 

Yves Saint Laurent with Laetitia Casta and Catherine Deneuve (Schiffer and Campbell in the back right) when he retired in 2002