Not the brand the man. Yves Saint Laurent died in Paris, France earlier this evening after a long illness. He was 71.

He was “unquestionably the greatest designer” from the 1950s to 2000, Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT (New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology) tells USA Today. “Just as Chanel brought modernism into women’s fashion, you could say Yves Saint Laurent brought fashion up to a kind of contemporary life.”

“Most designers are incredibly lucky if they can contribute one thing to fashion,” Steele continues. “But he was like Picasso: He contributed to so many significant movements. It’s impossible to imagine contemporary fashion without this man.”

R.I.P. Yves Saint Laurent, contemporary fashion will never be the same again.

“For a long time now, I have believed that fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves.”  — Yves Saint Laurent