RIP Yves Saint Laurent

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

Saint Laurent was the last of an era of fashion designers that included Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, for whom Saint Laurent worked until Dior's death in 1957. Berge, chief executive of the fashion house, told France Info Radio that Saint Laurent died at 11 p.m. (5 p.m. ET).

The reclusive French designer, who had retired from haute couture in 2002 after four decades at the top of his trade, had been ill for some time.

During his farewell appearance seven years ago, Saint Laurent had told reporters he had "always given the highest importance of all to respect for this craft, which is not exactly an art, but which needs an artist to exist."

source - cnn