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The funeral of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent took place in Paris on Thursday 5 June. Supermodels, film stars, and the French President said farewell to the man hailed as one of the great courtiers of the 20th century.

The ceremony was held in the Saint Roch Church. Workers from nearby offices and local residents clamored for a space at their windows to watch as the celebrities arrived. Proceedings from inside the church were televised on a huge screen outside for the benefit of onlookers.

Inside the church French actress Catherine Deneuve - for whom Saint Laurent had designed outfits for the cult 1967 movie Belle du Jour - read a poem by Walt Whitman. Saint Laurent’s long-term partner and business associate, Pierre Berge, spoke about how the designer has made fashion “socially relevant rather than merely aesthetic” and how, through Saint Laurent’s designs, women had ceased being “clothes-horses.” President Sarkozy sat at the front of the church next to his wife, Carla, who, as a model, had once paraded Saint Laurent’s designs on the catwalks.

Saint Laurent was a shy and retiring figure in his later years. However, his rank in the world of fashion was reflected by the number of celebrities at Saint Roch, a church traditionally associated with musicians and artists. Among the mourners were screen legend Jeanne Moreau, model Claudia Schiffer, and leading fashion designers Christian Lacroix, John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, and John-Paul Gaultier.

The designer’s coffin was greeted by an armed honor guard, the stiff military bearing contrasting strangely with the elegant mourners assembled outside the church.

Saint Laurent was hired by Christian Dior at the age of seventeen. He soon rose to become chief designer producing acclaimed collections under the Dior name. He left to go it alone in 1962 and built up the YSL brand into one of the world’s most widely recognized labels, its hallmark designs being women’s tuxedo and trouser suits, which revolutionized women’s wardrobes with a new androgynous look that reflected their quest for a stronger social role. He retired from designing in 2002, having struggled with ill health for a number of years.

Saint Laurent died from a brain tumor at the age of 71. His body is to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the garden of his villa in Marrakesh, Morocco.

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