Fashion: Yves in New York

For years, Manhattan’s 855 Madison Ave. had been an outlet for a Gristede grocery store, surrounded by shops selling electric appliances, antiques and furs. But by last week, the space had been remodeled, with huge plate-glass windows, an aluminum tunnel entrance and, inside, distinctive orange carpeting that climbed right up the walls. It had become Yves Saint Laurent’s Rive Gauche, his boutique beachhead in the U.S. And in the fashion world, Yves’s name is magic. Along the police barricades, students from nearby fashion schools and aspiring models draped themselves, many in versions of the CityPants that Saint Laurent has declared the Now look.

From opening-night limousines emerged more of the same. “Of course it’s a Saint Laurent,” said Lauren Bacall, displaying her black jersey jump suit. “When it’s pants, it’s Yves’s.” Saint Laurent’s newest companion and inspiration, former Chanel Model Betty Catroux, a tall, lithe specter of a woman, arrived in a black satin, sequined jump suit, open to below the rib cage. And when Yves himself shyly walked in, sporting an outsize tie, paisley shirt and multiple chains worn hip-hugger style, the scene was pandemonium.

Call the Police. Given a choice between Beautiful People and showing his clothes, Saint Laurent picked people, decided to keep the 8,000 imported garments off the racks and out of sight for the opening. Nobody minded. For at the age of 32, Saint Laurent is a celebrity’s celebrity. Tapped eleven years ago to inherit the mantle of Dior, he scored such a smash hit with his first collection, featuring his trapeze line, that crowds gathered outside the Dior headquarters on Paris’ Avenue Montaigne, crying “Au balcon!” until he emerged on the balcony to wave. Branching out under his own name, he scored again, producing 1962’s long tunics. Successive years brought flat shoes and knee socks, velvet knickers, the Mondrian look followed by theatrical African designs, then chains and more chains, and now pants.

But what has given Saint Laurent his large following is his decision to be the first of Paris’ great designers to reach for the mass audience. With the opening of Laurent’s Rive Gauche boutique in Paris two years ago, suddenly the subtle signature of haute couture was within the range of everyone. By the end of this year, he hopes to have 18 boutiques throughout Europe, plus ten in the U.S. by the fall of 1969. “Whether the creation is for haute couture or ready-to-wear is not important,” he now says. “The act of creation for the two is the same.” In fact, he would like to turn his back on the very rich: “People on the streets have more impact.”

On the first day of business, they certainly did. Within half an hour of opening, police had to be called to control the crowds. By closing time, the new Rive Gauche had grossed $25,000, was out of so many sizes that Paris was cabled to ship more clothes by air. Among the bestsellers: CityPants at $145-$175. Yves was not surprised. Right along, he has predicted the unisex look, “a mix of the two, men and women.” If such is the future, he is certainly the avantgarde. At a quick glance, many first-nighters at his Manhattan opening had trouble distinguishing Yves himself from his clients.