Sad news to start off Monday

Yves Saint Laurent died yesterday at the age of 71.

The fashion legend was considered one of the greatest designers of the 20th century. He got his start at the age of 22, reinventing the Christian Dior label, decades before it was considered cool to do so (Tom for Gucci, Marc for Louis, etc, etc). He started his own label in 1962 after suffering a nervous breakdown. His designs came to define the 1970's. The Yves Saint Laurent label was synonymous for cutting edge fashion. He designed Yves Saint Laurent till 2002, when Tom Ford and the Gucci Group bought the company from him. It was said that Laurent was incredibly bitter about the buyout and become increasingly reclusive in his final years. He died in his home in Paris.

Fashion-lovers have a lot to thank Yves for, let's take some time to review

1. Everything that is old, is new again

Refercing past decades in present collections, yeah Yves was doing that when Marc Jacobs was still in diapers. He came under fire for his 1971 collection which was inspired by 1940's fashion. Something that is second nature in fashion today.

2. Ready to Wear

Do you enjoy Fashion Week? Laurent was one of the first big designers to popularize ready to wear lines, as a way to democratize fashion. In 1966, he created the Rive Gauche fashion line and boutique.

3. Black Models

That's right folks, Yves Saint Laurent was the first designer to put a black model on the runway.

4. Decadence in Fashion

Blow and skinny models did not always go hand in hand when it came to fashion. Thanks to Yves Saint Laurent and his partying buddy Karl Lagerfeld they made fashion the excessive decadent field we know today. Have you read the The Beautiful Fall? You would think it was Ancient Rome. Or Lindsey Lohan at an Oscar party

There's only Karl and Giorgio Armani left now! Yves' dead, Valentino retried.