Drugs, Sex, and Fashion: The Madness Behind the Designer

"Saint Laurent" A look at the new film that was premiered this year's 58th annual San Francisco Film Festival.

On Sunday, April 26th, the historic Castro Theater opened its doors to the many fashion-crazed followers and film enthusiasts, to premiere the much buzzed about film Saint Laurent. The event was part of the San Francisco Film Festival that began on April 24th and finishes on May 7th.

The film was truly intoxicating but in the best way possible. It walked you throughout Yves Saint Laurent’s life a different way than any other biopic has. The film concentrates specifically on a ten-year span, from 1967 to 1976. This was the time range in his career where he was most creative. Yet at the same time most this was also his most chaotic and wild era, when it came down to his personal life.

The biopic depicts his creativity and shows were he drew inspiration from, including muses and close friends like LouLou de la Falaise and Betty Catroux. However, it also showed a darker side of Saint Laurent’s life, in which drugs, liquor, and depression ruled a huge part of it and nearly destroyed him.

Some might think that the film portrays the designer in a negative light. Although it did show his explicit drug habits along with with his intense love affairs that both higlighted his life and drove him mad, the film never took away anything from his creativity. Throughout the whole film, the one thing that was consistently shown was Saint Laurent's originality and the influence he had on fashion.

The fact is that the director of the film, Bertrand Bonello did a great job at showcasing that no matter how tumultuous Saint Laurent’s life was at the time, he still managed to work himself up and become one of the best designers to date. Bonello showed the essence of the designer, his trademark suits, his simple and clean aesthetic, and the way he made women feel empowered and sexy with his clothing.

The film itself was a contradiction just as the designer was. Both were lively yet dark, charismatic but at the same time depressing, a creative genius but terribly distraught. This film captures all that. So if you get an opportunity, check it out. The film comes out in theatres here, in the states, on May 8.