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Forbes magazine's ninth annual list of top-earning dead celebrities was unveiled Wednesday, and surprise, surprise: Neither Michael Jackson nor Elvis Presley held court at the top. Late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent debuted in the No. 1 spot with an estate that earned $350 million in the year after his death from brain cancer in June 2008. To place on this year's list, "delebs" -- industry speak for dead celebrities -- had to earn at least $6 million between October 1, 2008, and October 1, 2009. Saint Laurent earned well past that. A February Christie's auction sold most of...

The extraordinary three-day auction of the Yves Saint Laurent-Pierre Bergé collection has put the global art market in an entirely new perspective. It has finally demonstrated that the art market is set on a separate trajectory from the rest of the world economy and, even more importantly, it has altered the international power balance on the auction scene. To the general public, the string of world auction records set this week, from 20th-century paintings to Old Masters to Art Deco furniture, is the most striking evidence that the art market is performing beautifully. The sale, conducted by Christie's, took in...

The outpouring of money triggered by the auction of the Yves Saint Laurent-Pierre Bergé sale continued unabated as Christie's sold Old Master paintings and drawings, went on to German silver gilt of the 16th and 17th centuries and ended the day with the biggest auction ever of Art Deco furniture and objets d'art that alone added up to €59.14 million, or $75.70 million. What gives the sessions on Tuesday their full significance is the diversity of the categories represented and the rising tide of enthusiasm that seemed to grow each time the spotlight switched to a new area. Even though...

As nationalistic passions burn over the fate of looted Chinese artworks auctioned in Paris this week, Beijing is attempting to keep the focus on past humiliations by Western powers and away from delicate issues like human rights and China's handling of Tibet. The twisted tale of two animal heads, cast in bronze, that once adorned the Qing Dynasty pleasure gardens in Beijing and disappeared, allegedly in pillaging by the British and French armies in 1860, took another turn last week when their current owner suggested he would return them if Beijing agreed to free Tibet. "I would be very happy...

PARIS: If proof was needed that huge amounts of cash are available for art, the sale of the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé collection is it. In a historic auction that might yet prove to be a turning point for Paris on the international auction scene, Christie's has scored a triumph as it sold 59 Impressionist and Modern paintings, drawings and sculpture from the collection for €206.15 million, or $266.74 million. This exceeds the previous highest single-owner total at auction, achieved with the $207 million Paul Ganz sale in New York in November 1997. It will rise much higher...

PARIS (AFP) — The notion of wardrobe androgyny was the fitting theme of Yves Saint-Laurent's men's collection, the house that kicked off the just-ended Paris men's shows where men's fashion won a feminine touch. At YSL, designer Stefano Pilati used quotations from Plato to explain why he combined female detailing with a masculine silhouette...

The items include a 1958 cocktail dress for Dior and a 1970s Rive Gauche camel cable-knit sweater trimmed in fox fur similar to one Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wore. “What’s exciting about the collection is that you see the progression of his career. He was a real style-setter,” said Christie’s couture specialist, Laura Leyfer to AP.

PARIS — Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71. Pierre Berge said Saint Laurent died at his Paris home following a long illness. (Aids?) ... Bouts of depression marked his career. Pierre Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown. ... When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles...

Yves Saint Laurent, considered by many as the greatest fashion designer of the 20th Century, has died in Paris at the age of 71. Saint Laurent changed the face of the fashion industry when he became chief designer of the House of Dior at 21. He designed clothes that reflected women's changing role in society: more confident personally, sexually and in the work-place.

These dramatic pictures in a Paris street show leading fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent collapsed in the road outside his boutique, just hours after his latest catwalk triumph. After celebrities like Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes had applauded his YSL label's latest creations during his show at the French capital's fashion week, the 70-year fell down in Avenue Montaigne, close to the Champs Elysee. Aides rushed to help the 70-year-old, pictured lying next to his black Mercedes. It follows increasing concerns about the multi-millionaire's health after a lifetime of high living involving drink, drugs and numerous glamorous girfriends. "Yves collapsed...