Yves Saint Laurent was born in 1936 in Oran, in what was then French Algeria. He left home aged 17 to work for the French designer Christian Dior.
Yves Saint Laurent is credited with revolutionising the fashion industry when he became chief designer of the House of Dior at the age of 21.
Saint Laurent designed clothes that showed women's changing role in the modern world, however, after a long and remarkable career he retired in 2002 and was known to have been ill for some time.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute calling Saint Laurent's work "creative genius".
