MANILA, Philippines?You have been wearing an ?Yves Saint Laurent? ?without you knowing it.

Of course, we don?t mean the brand. We mean the iconic styles Yves Saint Laurent has given fashion for nearly five decades, from the trouser suits to what you know as peasant dresses, and what your daughter now calls ?boho chic.?

Fashion is a never-ending evolution?and cycle?and Saint Laurent?the genius who embraced pain of creation more than he did life?had always been at the root of this evolution.

He greatly influenced the foremost Filipino fashion designers. During his ascendance in the ?70s, Filipino fashion designers were also at their most productive, competitive and versatile stage. It was the golden era of Philippine fashion that gave rise to today?s iconic figures. From the time I started interviewing and covering the likes of Auggie Cordero, I heard no fashion titan?s name dropped more often than Yves Saint Laurent.

Saint Laurent was the reference for the neat tailoring and sleek silhouette of Cordero and Inno Sotto. Jeannie Goulbourn?s corporate woman look in the heyday of Philippine ready-to-wear was inspired by a Saint Laurent. Cesar Gaupo?s bold color play heeded Saint Laurent?s example.

It?s been said that no designer has affected hemline and waistline as much as YSL did.

That?s no exaggeration. Unlike Dior and Chanel, YSL was there for a much longer period?five decades?producing collections four times a year, particularly when he also started his RTW Rive Gauche line. This was a challenge to human creativity that took its toll on the man?s physical and psychic health. As his longtime business partner and companion Pierre Berge said, YSL ?was born with a nervous breakdown.?

Christian Lacroix explained how YSL was in a league all his own: ?There have been other great designers in this century, but none with the same range as Saint Laurent. Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga and Dior all did extraordinary things. But they worked within a particular style. Yves Saint Laurent is much more versatile, like a combination of all of them. ?

What exactly were the forms?and substance?of fashion Philippine designers and women in general owed to Saint Laurent?

To start with, the trouser suit of the ?70s was an innovation by Saint Laurent at a time when it wasn?t considered feminine for women to be in pants for serious day and evening occasions.

The trapeze dress is another. In his first collection after the death of Dior, the young YSL introduced a non-constricting silhouette devoid of paddings and linings associated with the older Dior.

In the ?60s, he caught the wave of pop art and Op art, and designed the Mondrian shift which bore the geometric figures of the artist Mondrian. The dress was lauded by critics?it allowed room for the woman?s curves while appearing as flat as a painting?s surface.

In the mid-?70s, Saint Laurent introduced his ?Ballet Russes? collection. He was inspired by Diaghilev?s ?Ballet Russes??billowing skirts, shawls, harem pants in jewel colors. He introduced fantasy dressing of Saint Laurent.

Tuxedo dressing sprang from Saint Laurent?s ?smoking? jacket of 1967, consisting of shirt, kerchief out of the breast pocket, trouser suit. Saint Laurent used traditional men tailoring in a new way for women. He paved the way for Armani in that sense.

He also introduced the safari jackets for men and women?and the designer denim.

From the ?70s to the early 21st century, these looks made their way to Philippine fashions. As Women?s Wear Daily repeatedly wrote: Saint Laurent was the ?sense of color, the artistry of cut.?

Fashion?s legendary journalist John Fairchild, the founder of WWD, said ?Dior, Chanel, Saint Laurent??that about summed up high fashion.

Thanks to his partnership with Berge, who was known for his business acumen, Saint Laurent pioneered not only RTW, but also the licensing of the fragrance and beauty business.

Chanel saw life as an adventure. Dior had a zest for life. YSL had the angst of life. YSL?painfully shy and reclusive?seemed to have embraced the struggle that came with his genius.

In an interview this week on CNN, Berge said YSL seemed to have lost his drive after he retired in 2001. Even if he did, it actually didn?t matter anymore. Yves Saint Laurent had already given enough to the world.