The sharp black suits, upswept chignons and click-clack of high heels could have been the opening steps of an Yves Saint Laurent fashion show. But instead of glossy red lips, there were red-rimmed eyes as the Parisian worlds of fashion, art and politics turned out to say farewell to the towering creative figure of 20th-century style.

There were the red roses in the shape of a heart, labeled “Pierre” for Pierre Bergé - Saint Laurent’s partner for 50 years. He gave a moving address, speaking tenderly to the coffin and recounting moments of love, anguish and pride that reduced the most sophisticated of Parisians to tears and raised an ovation from the crowds watching on a satellite screen outside.

Homage came from the mighty - President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla, a former model for YSL -and the humble: a button-sewer who clung to the barricades to catch a glimpse of the cortège.

But it was above all a reunion of a fashion family, who came together, as the actress Marisa Berenson said, recalling the 1970s, to remember “that whole period when we were young and everything was free.”

“Yves was such an elegant person with such a gentle soul,” Berenson said, explaining how the designer’s first foray into fashion was with her grandmother, Elsa Schiaparelli.

Betty Catroux, with her slim, boyish figure the mirror image of her friend Yves, sat among the family. Saint Laurent’s 95-year-old mother, Lucienne, walked stoutly down the aisle on her cane, supported by her daughters. Loulou de la Falaise, the free Bohemian spirit who was the creative counterpoint to Catroux’s masculine rigor, hid under a chic black hat, while the actress Arielle Dombasle made her entrance with a giant Jackie Kennedy-style pill box.

Designers paying homage were led by the distinguished, white-haired Hubert de Givenchy, who said tearfully: “We are all here for him.” Marc Jacobs, who had flown overnight from New York, said simply: “He’s the person who taught me everything I know.”

Tags: abe, actress marisa, barricades, bohemian spirit, boyish figure, button sewer, chignons, dis, fir, former model, heart, hubert de givenchy, ins, jackie kennedy style, love, marc jacobs, marisa berenson, mirror image, nicolas sarkozy, paying homage, red roses, saint laurent, satellite, wife carla

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