Pierre Bergé is a French industrialist and patron. He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and former partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Bergé was born at in Oléron (Charente-Maritime). His mother Christiane was an amateur soprano and a progressive teacher who used the Montessori method. His father worked for the tax office and was a great rugby enthusiast. Bergé attended the Lycée Eugène Fromentin in La Rochelle, and later went to Paris. On the day of his arrival, as he was walking on the Champs-Élysées, French poet Jacques Prévert fell on him while attempting suicide. During these early years in Paris, Pierre Bergé befriended the young French artist Bernard Buffet and was a great help in forwarding Buffet’s success.
Bergé met Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. They became romantically involved and together launched Yves Saint Laurent Couture House in 1961. The couple split amicably in 1976 but remained lifelong friends and… read more
Pierre Bergé is a French industrialist and patron. He is perhaps best known as the co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House and former partner of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Bergé was born at in Oléron (Charente-Maritime). His mother Christiane was an amateur soprano and a progressive teacher who used the Montessori method. His father worked for the tax office and was a great rugby enthusiast. Bergé attended the Lycée Eugène Fromentin in La Rochelle, and later went to Paris. On the day of his arrival, as he was walking on the Champs-Élysées, French poet Jacques Prévert fell on him while attempting suicide. During these early years in Paris, Pierre Bergé befriended the young French artist Bernard Buffet and was a great help in forwarding Buffet’s success.
Bergé met Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. They became romantically involved and together launched Yves Saint Laurent Couture House in 1961. The couple split amicably in 1976 but remained lifelong friends and business partners. Bergé acted as C.E.O. of Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture until it shuttered in 2002. Highly protective and invested in the reputation and legacy of Saint Laurent Couture, Bergé was known as the “Dean of Yves Saint Laurent”.
In 1992, Bergé sold shares of the fashion house just before the company released a poor economic report. In 1996, this action was deemed to be insider trading and he was sentenced to a fine of one million Francs.6 After the close of the Couture House, Bergé became President of The Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.
During Bergé’s eulogy of Saint Laurent, he reflected on their lifetime of memories, saying;
“I remember your first collection under your name and the tears at the end. Then the years passed. Oh, how they passed quickly. The divorce was inevitable but the love never stopped.”
—Wikipedia
