In the Bag

Yves Saint Laurent
Like many of the developing fashion stars of tomorrow, Yves Saint Laurent came to fame by designing for somebody else. He had been at Christian Dior for only two years when the legendary founder died of a heart attack. The reins were quickly passed to Saint Laurent, 21. His first collection for Dior stuck closely to the house's legacy — and was a smash success. "Saint Laurent has saved France!" read the papers the following day. But with his next collections he strayed further from the Dior traditions, to the consternation of many — especially the house's backer Marcel Boussac. When Saint Laurent was called up for military service, the influential press baron let him go. But the army was no place for a man with Saint Laurent's sensibilities. He ended up in a mental hospital, kept under heavy sedation. Finally, his lover Pierre Bergé secured his release, and the two created the house of Yves Saint Laurent in 1961. His ideas went down much better in the relaxed atmosphere of the 1960s — creations like the Mondrian dress and the Le Smoking jacket became style icons. Saint Laurent became part of the jet set, socializing with Catherine Deneuve and Andy Warhol. Enthralled with youth culture, he opened Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, a store of less expensive ready-to-wear, on the hip left bank. Bergé meanwhile worked to maximize the Saint Laurent name with fragrances and a variety of licenses. In 1993, the drug company Sanofi acquired the Saint Laurent businesses. And in 1999 François Pinault bought them to sell to Gucci.

Alexander McQueen
"It was like I was a stallion being held back by a two-ton truck," said Alexander McQueen of his five years at LVMH designing for Givenchy. McQueen sprinted out of the gates upon graduation from Central St. Martin's in 1992. By then, he'd already spent seven years as an apprentice on Savile Row — and he was still only 23 years old. His first collections were designed more to attract attention than anything else. They did. With names like "The Birds" and "Highland Rape" it was hard not to. The showmanship would have fallen flat, if not for McQueen's extraordinary talent. "The collection itself had more ideas than all the other runways in London combined," said a critic after McQueen's spring 1996 show. Isabella Blow famously bought his entire first collection. McQueen's most recent show — "What a Merry-Go-Round," a statement on his time at LVMH — featured a collection he called "transitional." Now that the LVMH years are behind him, McQueen is settling down to focus on the future of his house. "I'm like a bloody computer," he says. "I've done something like 2,500 collections in the last five years. I've got to start encapsulating everything I've done and tidy it up. That's hard to do when you're designing 14 collections a year." In the plans is his own haute couture collection, to be shown in Paris; and a new store concept that will debut in Milan. Gucci has given him the space currently occupied by the Yves Saint Laurent store. "The company behind you should be solely interested in what you're doing," says McQueen. "Gucci Group is a fashion-based group. It's not investing in everything including the kitchen sink."

Bottega Veneta
"The 1970s was the last time we saw logomania," says Tom Ford. "It was all about Gucci and Louis Vuitton and initials, initials, initials, and Gloria Vanderbilt jeans." Into this frenzied atmosphere Italian leather company Bottega Veneta was launched. Its smash hit was a bag of woven leather — a look inspired by woven baskets. There was no logo and the ads said it all: "When your own initials are enough." The first boutique opened in 1974 on Manhattan's Upper East Side. In 1980 when Lauren Hutton starred as a rich New York housewife in American Gigolo, her bag was Bottega. My, how things change. Encouraged by revivals at other leather goods companies, namely Prada and Gucci, the company branched out into clothes in 1997. At the recent Bottega show, creative consultant Katie Grand and designer Giles Deacon showed miniskirts, oversized jeans, a leather puffball jacket. "We wanted to challenge people," said Grand. "I think it was quite unique." Now let's see what Gucci thinks.

Stella McCartney
Like any matriculant of the famous fashion program at London's Central St. Martin's School of Art and Design, Stella McCartney asked a few of her friends to model for her 1995 graduate show. As Mom and Dad beamed with pride — Dad being former Beatle Paul McCartney — Stella's friends took the stage: Kate Moss had flown in from New York and Naomi Campbell from Berlin. The collection was well-received, and she set up her own company. Two years later when the French house of Chloé rang and asked if she'd succeed Karl Lagerfeld as designer, she replied with a resounding yes and gave up her own label. McCartney, famous for tight jeans and sexy tops ("She's the Diane Von Furstenburg of our generation," said designer Jeremy Scott), dramatically increased sales at Chloé. Now, at age 30, she's ready to launch the Stella McCartney label again — this time with a little help from her friends at Gucci.

Boucheron
In the mid-19th century, Frédéric Boucheron became the first Paris jeweler to process diamonds, later etching royal crests into the precious stones at the request of various royal families. The practice stopped when some clients found it necessary to unload their gems for cash. Boucheron now has a different jewel — perfume. Its first, in a bottle shaped like a ring, was a swift success. Today most of the company's dollars come from scents.

Balenciaga
What would Cristóbal Balenciaga say? The man responsible for the revival of his fashion house used to design uniforms for the Japanese license partner! But under Nicolas Ghesquière's direction, the brand has become super hot. When Ghesquière told Gucci Group that he'd rather continue designing for Balenciaga than launch his own label, they bought the house for him.

Bédat & Co
The Bédat name may be new to some, but not to watch industry insiders. Simone Bédat has been in the watch buiness for some 40 years. She co-founded the Raymond Weil brand. But when her son Christian came of age she sold her stake to help him launch Bédat & Co. Now Christian designs and mom supervises. The five-year-old company does about $12 million in sales. Christian says the Gucci deal gives them protection: "It's a jungle out there."

Sergio Rossi
During fashion week, the Sergio Rossi showroom in Milan is heaving — packed with fashion editors cooing over stilettos, say, black with grommets or red with jewels. Few recognize the white-haired, 65-year-old man as their creator. The son of a cobbler, Rossi started the company some 40 years ago and sold it to Gucci in 1999. Tom Ford is designing new stores for the brand and has seen to its sexy ad campaign. At the Oscars, under Julia Roberts' vintage Valentino gown were a pair of Sergio Rossi shoes.