Rowboats in The Lake in Central Park. 2:30 PM. Photo: JH.

Another beautiful weekend in New York, with some rainy patches on Saturday – a warm light Spring rain, followed by more warm weather and lots of Sun on Sunday. Yves Saint Laurent died in Paris yesterday. He would have been 72 August 1st. Both the New York Times and the Telegraph of London have excellent overall obituaries of the fashion genius. It was a glorious career that began before he was 20. His talent, promoted by his partnership with Pierre Berge (who was also his lover in the beginning of their relationship) made him very rich. His fame brought him the celebrity that invites gossip and scandal, and at the height of his career he was plagued by alcoholism, drug use and depression. There were many occasions when the rumors claimed his impending death from one or all three. He was born August 1, 1936 in Oran, in French Algeria. His father owned a chain of movie houses and was prosperous. His mother loved fashion. The childhood, however, was traumatic and tortuous. He was a delicate and effeminate boy who, as the Telegraph obit points out, had a solitary childhood amusing himself with his creative fancies, like making paperdolls to play with.

Yves Saint Laurent with his friend Catherine Deneuve

The story as he told it, later in life, to a mutual friend of his and mine was darker. One afternoon as an eight year old, he was raped in one of his father’s theaters. The perpetrator, he recounted, was his father – the father who he also said beat him throughout his childhood. The taunting didn’t end there – he was regularly bullied and beaten by his schoolmates. Not surprisingly, the thought of going to school made him sick. He had his first nervous breakdown at 13. Neither his mother nor his father, he recalled, ever visited him in the hospital as his condition was considered a disgrace. The loneliness and fear that this engendered remained powerful forces with him throughout his life. His mother first took him to Paris at 17. The idea of his becoming a fashion designer had already been determined – the mother had had a design of his made for herself, and she took a portfolio around to interest fashion people in Paris with his work. By 19 he was working for Christian Dior who proclaimed him his natural fashion heir. However, after Dior’s death and YSL’s advancement to head designer, his fortunes reversed. An unsuccessful collection, according to the Telegraph, led Dior’s owner, Marcel Boussac to get the boy drafted into the French Army which was then fighting the Algerian War it eventually lost. YSL’s service was shortened by another bout of depression and a nervous breakdown with hospitalization. Finally out of the hospital and the service, he returned to Paris where his position at Dior was closed to him, having been succeeded by Marc Bohan. He got to know Zizi Jeanmaire, one of the top cabaret stars in Paris, and showed her some sketches for costumes. She hired him for costume and set design. This was followed by his partnership with Pierre Berge. Catherine Deneuve and Pierre Berge at a YSL Spring-Summer 2008 ready-to-wear collection in Paris last October. It was a very lonely life despite the great success, the fame, fortune and the alliance with Berge. “He was very sweet but really very scared of people,” my friend said, surmising that that was the subcontext to his drinking, drugging and depression. In Paris last night, they were already placing the black flags along the Champs-Elysees, and the great man’s picture was being hung in the windows of shops and restaurants. When he first arrived in Paris, because of his upbringing he spoke a provincial French, the bane of the Parisians’ sense of their language. Nevertheless, his genius brought him to a greatness almost without peer except for Coco Chanel. The man himself saw it differently: “they call me a king,” he remarked, “but think of what happened to the kings of France.” My friend, his friend recalled last night that “He was happiest at a local tabac having a drink. He always loved talking to the barman, someone he did not know and maybe someone from a whole different station in life. He felt very comfortable under those circumstances.” Yesterday’s New York Times ran a piece (“It’s Note So Easy Being Less Rich” by Christine Haughney) on the possible/probable changing fortunes (reversal of fortunes?) of many of the city’s wealthier denizens. They’re still rich, according to the Times, but many are beginning to feel the pinch and beginning to take steps that reflect that. For example, the Times quotes Chris del Gatto, CEO of Circa (you’ve seen their ads on the NYSD) which buys very high end jewelry from individuals who wish to sell. We’re talking millions. One of the things about selling jewelry, the article points out, is that since it is not worn frequently, the inherent “downsizing” is not as noticeable as if one sold one’s Bentley. Nevertheless, according to reporter Haughney, the squeeze has begun for many. I am often asked what I see of the financial repercussions from this vantage point, but aside from the occasional stories of sudden loss of job (with the seven figure salary), the only clear area of evidence available to me is the charity circuit. That, so far, is not much of an indicator of things turning bad.

Libby Fitzgerald, Leslie Jones, Muffie Potter Aston, Richard Kirschenbaum, and Ashley McDermott at The Society for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Care's Spring Gala.

Last week, for example, The Society for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Care held its first Spring Gala ever and took in $2.3 million. On top of that Jamie Niven, Sotheby’s Exec-VP, acting as auctioneer raised an additional $600,000 plus on the night. A record all around. Also last week, at the Library, they held a dinner of gratitude for Stephen Schwarzman who has just given the Library a gift of $100 million. Also at the dinner was Mort Zuckerman who recently pledged $100 million to Sloan Kettering. And on top that, the Robin Hood Foundation held is annual gala and raised more than $56 million! So we’re looking at a year of fund-raising in New York that will run well into the nine figures. That said, on another note, in the world of finance and economics (and pop culture of sorts), the man of the hour is Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the “Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.” Mr. Taleb, who was once a very successful trader (and made a fortune when the market collapsed on that day in October 1987), is now making millions selling his books and giving lectures on how he sees things and where things are going. And things, as he sees it, are not going well. The sub-prime crisis is way far from over, and even if the US economy survives it, Mr. Taleb believes that the economy will remain a heap of delusion and risk. “America is the greatest financial risk I can think of,” Mr. Taleb has warned. That said, the man who has no use for economists and their “deluded” economic models, does believe in looking for the silver lining. Although he’s not one to read a lot of newspapers (except for gossip), and never watches television (ever), one of his suggestions for educating yourself is getting out and about, going to parties and listening. Serendipity can potentially provide all kinds of future rewards – i.e., you never know what you’re going to learn from another, or even overhear in a restaurant. I’m for that. Meanwhile, there’s always the matter of work for a lot of us. Which reminds me, WOWOWOW.com [1], the new web site starring among other scribes, Liz Smith, Lily Tomlin, Joan Juliet Buck, Leslie Stahl, Candice Bergen, Sheila Nevins, Mary Wells Lawrence, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ran some pictures of the girls’ desks/offices this past week. My desk is my office, so to speak, and I’m self-conscious about the ongoing state of it (although few people ever see it) because it’s usually a mountain and a mess of papers, books, magazines, messages, detritus, crap, etc. that I’m always in the midst of cleaning up.

Liz Smith’s desk, New York, NY.

Candice Bergen’s desk, New York, NY.

Lily Tomlin’s desk, Los Angeles, CA.

Ernestine’s desk, Los Angeles, CA.

Jane Wagner’s desk, Los Angeles, CA.

So I was pleased to see that Liz Smith has more space and yet more stuff/crap/junk/envelopes/papers/books, magazines/etc. than I have. Pleased the way we’re pleased to learn we’re not alone.  Liz’ office, if any indication of industry, howbeit, reveals that the girl’s work is far from done, and far exceeds the rest of us. Then there are others on the WOWOWOW.com site as well who are either very organized, or have a lot of help or don’t have that much going on (at their desks), as you can see for yourself.

DPC's desk, New York, NY.

JH's desk, New York, NY.

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