The world of fashion - meet the 5 most important men

The world of fashion wouldn't be the same without them. They are virtuosos, perfectionists and geniuses. Get to know our subjective ranking of the most important men-fashion creators.

Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent - inspirational, unique and revolutionary. He was interested in fashion at a very young age. So in 1953 he came from Algeria to Paris to take part in a competition for debuting designers. He won 3rd place in it, but a year later he triumphed. His designs were delightful, which is why Vogue's editor, Michel de Brunhoff, took an interest in him. In 1953, after the first competition, he offered the young designer courses at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture. Yves took this advice and moved permanently to the French capital of fashion. However, the curriculum was unsatisfactory and Saint Laurent quickly gave it up. After winning the competition in 1954, Brunhoff introduced the designer to Christian Dior. The collaboration between the two legends began right away at the Dior fashion house. The world of fashion has gained an amazing representative thanks to this. After Dior's death, Yves became chief designer, which was unusual in that he was very young at the time - he was only 21 at the time of Dior's death. He focused everyone's eyes on himself then, and the pressure was enormous. The first collection, however, was a spectacular success in the fashion world.

In 1960, Yves Saint Laurent was drafted into the army. He had a nervous breakdown there, was also given electroconvulsive therapy due to his homosexuality, and was additionally fired from the Dior fashion house. All this led the designer to a psychiatric hospital. When he came to his senses, he founded a brand under his own name, which gained immense popularity and became a cult. Saint Laurent retired in 2002 and died 6 years later.

Yves introduced the beatnik style to the world of fashion, which is very popular with young people. It consisted of leather jackets, coats, turtlenecks and high boots. Another element that Saint Laurent started with was the transfer of men's garments to women's fashion - he dressed women in suits. The designer is also known for introducing prêt-à-porter, which are ready-to-wear collections that do not need to be ordered. Yves Saint Laurent is also a style of nude look, i.e. transparent clothes through which the body is theoretically visible, but it is somehow hidden behind the material. The designer believed that hidden nudity always turned out to be more interesting.

Christian Dior

Christian Dior - although he had great talent, was a genius creator, went down in the history of fashion and became its true legend - was a shy and secretive person, and also a loner. In his youth, he wanted to become an architect, but his father persuaded him to study political science. Christian agreed, although he was mainly interested in art. For this reason, after graduating, with the financial help of his father, he founded a gallery. Unfortunately, a few years after his mother and two older brothers died, and his father's business went bankrupt, Dior had to close the gallery. After that, he initially started designing hats, and later worked for Robert Piguet. His work was interrupted by the war, and the next point in his biography was working for Lucien Lelong. In 1946, Christian Dior opened his own fashion house. He was a great boss and his ideas turned out to be perfect, so he quickly became successful. The brand has become synonymous with luxury. Unfortunately, Dior died of a heart attack approximately 10 years after starting his company. In the fashion world, he was replaced by Yves Saint Laurent.

The collections designed by Christian Dior were very feminine. He dressed many famous women and introduced the New look style - it consisted of flared skirts, clothes with a strong waistline, and fitted jackets. Initially, feminine shapes and waists were emphasized, with time the cuts changed, but they were always elegant and beautiful.

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Cristóbal Balenciaga came from Spain and it was there that he founded his first fashion house. However, the civil war made him relocate his interests to the capital of fashion - Paris. Balenciaga tried very hard to stay aloof, little was known about him, and although he made clothes for important women, even they did not know him personally. Because of his hiding, many legends grew up around him. It was even argued that the designer does not really exist and that his creations are by several other talented people.

As already mentioned, his clothes were bought by famous, important personalities. He even dressed royal families. No wonder. His designs were characterized by perfect cut, elegance, incredible detail and, above all, they were unsurpassed classics. Balenciaga is a master of haute couture. He had an amazing sense of taste and aesthetics, and his outfits, though brave, never provoked. The designer did not like provocation and avoided it. He was admired by the greatest of the fashion world, including Coco Chanel and Christian Dior.

What else has the world of fashion gained thanks to him? He was the first to design tunics that are so eagerly worn today. He is also the creator of a shirt dress, a skirt-baubles, a babydoll-style dress and a bag (airy, no waist).

Cristóbal Balenciaga closed his fashion houses with virtually no warning in 1968 and left the world of fashion. He died 4 years later.

Karl Lagerfeld

White hair, tied in a ponytail at the back of the head, dark glasses, gloves, fitted, elegant suits, long jackets and… the cat Choupette. In order to wear perfectly tailored suits, he lost over 40 kg a dozen years ago. Karl Lagerfeld is a living legend and a multi-tasking man. The range of his achievements is extremely wide. No wonder this talented designer has headed the Chanel fashion house since 1983 and continues what Mademoiselle started. Though their style is different and his way of running a fashion house is slightly different from that of Chanel, Lagerfeld is doing great.

However, the Chanel fashion house is not everything. Lagerfeld is currently designing for the Italian brand Fendi, doing photo shoots, directing short films promoting the Chanel brand, owns a bookstore and publishing a newspaper. It owns its own brand KARL (clothes and accessories) and Monster Choupette (accessories). It was he who discovered the world-famous model Claudia Schiffer.

From childhood, his favorite activities were reading and drawing. Therefore, as a teenager, he went to a secondary school in Paris, where he studied drawing. In 1954 he took part in a competition for young designers, the same in which Yves Saint Lauren participated. He was successful and the coat design he made was realized by the Pierre Balmain fashion house. Karl quickly became his assistant, but - as he himself stated - he was never suitable for such a position. A few years later, he became the artistic director of Maison Jean Patou. In 1963, however, he parted ways with the brand, became a freelancer and began working with many fashion houses. In the 1990s, he also designed for Chloé.

Although his designs and Coco's concept are different, the outfits are nevertheless phenomenal, fresh, modern and elegant. Chanel would certainly be pleased with such a successor.

Hubert de Givenchy

His muse was Audrey Hepburn. It was he who created her unique, elegant style, made the dresses perfectly fitted to the figure and became timeless creations. Especially for her, he created the perfume L`Interdit. Audrey was not only his muse, but also a devoted friend for the rest of her life.

Hubert de Givenchy is a French designer who knew from an early age what he wanted to do in life. After graduation, he began working for Robert Piguet and Lucien Lelong. In these places he met great designers from the world of fashion - Dior and Balmain. Then Givenchy managed the boutique of the Elsa Schiaparelli fashion house, but in 1952 he started his own brand. His first collection was made entirely of white cotton due to low financial resources. However, it was a real success, and the bright colors became a characteristic of the designer. He also created the famous "Bettina" blouse and pencil skirts. Details, embroidery and simplicity are also characteristic of his designs.