The fashion king Yves Saint Laurent passed away

International fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent died Sunday night at his home in Paris, longtime friend and business associate Pierre Berge said. He has died at his Paris home at the age of 71.

Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent’s business associate for four decades and former romantic partner, said on Sunday that he had died at his Paris home following a long illness.

Saint Laurent announced his retirement in 2002 at age 65 and closed the Paris-based haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier.

Saint Laurent’s became synonymous with the glamour of the Paris catwalk and the elegance of haute couture.

He took Paris by storm in the 1960s and 1970s with his masculine, yet elegant, trouser suits for women. He also popularized tight pants, the trapeze dress, smocks, thigh-high boots and tuxedo jackets. Saint Laurent often used ethnic themes in his designs, as well as bright colors contrasted with black.He is known for putting women into “men’s clothes”, such as elegant pantsuits and tuxedo jackets.

He was born back on Aug. 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria.