Yves Saint Laurent and Salma Hayek

The French fashion designer with Mexican actress Salma Hayek in Paris in 2000

Yves Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve

Yves Saint Laurent with actress Catherine Deneuve, who is wearing one of his designs, attending a presidential reception for French fashion designers at the Elysee Palace in Paris in 1984

  Legendary fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent died last night at the age of 71 following a long illness. Beloved by the fashion industry and celebrities alike, he was responsible for some of the most chic, glamorous and cutting edge designs of the last century.

 His prestigious career started at the tender age of 17 when he won first prize in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat to design a cocktail dress. A year later he met Christian Dior who hired him on the spot, and when Dior died suddenly in 1957 Laurent was appointed to take over as head of the house aged just 21.

 Eleven years later in 1962 he set up his eponymous company with business partner and confidante Pierre Berge - who broke the news to the media last night.

 The designer officially retired from fashion in 2002 but throughout his stellar career gave the world some iconic looks. The classic \'60s Le Smoking tuxedo jacket has been a much copied staple in the YSL collection ever since, a white version of which Bianca Jagger wore to her wedding to Mick Jagger in 1971.

 His sleek, timeless designs won him an army of devotees on the Left Bank and the world over, and his legacy will live on through his enormous contribution to fashion history.

 Echoing the feelings of many of his contemporaries, fellow designer Vera Wang told wwd.com, "I think I\'m in shock. I\'m in fashion today because of him. I lived in Paris right next to his first couture house. My mother adored his work and introduced me to it when I was 16. I feel in love with fashion because of Yves Saint Laurent. He was the first international superstar in the modern era."

 Following Laurent\'s retirement, Tom Ford was given the daunting task of filling his shoes. In 2004 Ford passed the reigns to his second in command Stefano Pilati, who has been much praised for keeping the house true to Yves aesthetic. Pilati has just announced that tempestuous supermodel Naomi Campbell will front their autumn/winter 2008 campaign.

Belinda White 

 picture -Yves Saint Laurent standing outside his Rive Gauche boutique in France in 1966 alongside a model

Pictures from the memorial service for Yves Saint Laurent 

Leslie Bogart, Yves Saint Laurent and Lauren Bacall

Yves Saint Laurent pictured in 1968 with actress Lauren Bacall and her daughter Leslie at the showing of his latest collection in Paris

Audrey Hepburn, Yves Saint Laurent and Loulou de la Falaise

French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent stands with Audrey Hepburn and Loulou de la Falaise at a fashion event

Yves Saint Laurent and Nan Kempner

Yves Saint Laurent and socialite Nan Kempner pictured in 1978 at the launch party for the designer\'s Opium perfurme

Yves Saint Laurent

Designer Yves Saint Laurent walks down the catwalk in 2002 after his last ever haute couture show in Paris

Yves Saint Laurent and Zizi Jeanmarie

 Yves Saint Laurent in Paris with Zizi Jeanmarie in 1961

Yves Saint Laurent

Pictured in 1957, Yves Saint Laurent draws fashion designs on a chalkboard in the atelier of the House of Christian Dior, where he had just been named as the successor to Christian Dior

Yves Saint Laurent and a group of models

French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent poses with a group of models in 1960, to celebrate the unveiling of his second spring collection at the House of Dior

Nadja Auermann

Supermodel Nadja Auermann models a classic YSL look on the catwalk in 1995

Yves Saint Laurent and Tessa Beaumont

Yves Saint Laurent, pictured here in 1959, poses with dancer Tessa Beaumont at the House of Christian Dior in France

Bianca and Mick Jagger

Rolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger and his new wife Bianca, in an Yves Saint Laurent suit, pose outside St Tropez Town Hall on their wedding day in 1971

Yves Saint Laurent press conference

The then 21-year-old Yves Saint Laurent conducts a press conference in 1957 shortly after the announcement of his new role as chief designer at Christian Dior

Yves Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve

Yves Saint Laurent and French actress Catherine Deneuve attend the opening of the fashion designer\'s foundation in 2004

Yves Saint Laurent and a client

Yves Saint Laurent talks to a client at his boutique in 1966

Yves Saint Laurent

French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent pictured in his Paris office in 1961

Yves Saint Laurent\'s final bow

Yves Saint Laurent takes his final bow as designer of YSL in 2002 flanked by a host of top models and actresses including Catherine Deneuve and Claudia Schiffer

Pictures from the memorial service for Yves Saint Laurent