Good-bye Yves and Godspeed

Today we mourn one of the true fashion greats who passed away last night in his paris apartment after a long bout of illness. You will see many tributes on the web today and I had originally thought to post a photo collage of his work but we don't really mourn his work, its the man who's brilliance is behind that work that we have lost. I firmly believe that the greatest of the designers are really those who express their souls, their very beings through the creation of beautiful garments. So instead of showing his work, which we are still lucky enough to have, here is a collection of things he said over his lifetime. I think it gives you a greater glimpse of his thought process and his beliefs and perhaps illustrates just a tiny bit more, the truly great loss that the world, and not just the fashion world, has now suffered.

You are a great and extraordinaly man Yves.
Thank you for all you gave us
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We must never confuse elegance with snobbery.

Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it.

It pains me physically to see a woman victimized, rendered pathetic, by fashion.

Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?

I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes.

I want to thank all the women who have worn my clothes, the famous and the unknown, who have been so faithful to me and given me so much joy.

Fashions fade, style is eternal.

Dressing is a way of life.

A designer who is not also a couturier, who hasn't learned the most refined mysteries of physically creating his models, is like a sculptor who gives his drawings to another man, an artisan, to accomplish