Pierre Bergé, co-founder of French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent, has passed away at the age of 86. Bergeé and Yves Saint Laurent founded the fashion house, showing their first collection in 1962; Saint Laurent revolutionising fashion with the YSL Rive Gauche RTW line and Bergeé taking care of the business end of things. The had also become romantic partners in 1957, but split in 1976, maintaining a close relationship. Saint Laurent was once quoted saying about his relationship bit Bergé: “the divorce was inevitable but the love never stopped”. The duo went on to sell the company back in 1992 (now part of Kering), but Bergé remained involved and was the president of the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, established in 2002 after YSL’s retirement. He remarried after Saint Laurent’s death back in 2008. Bergé championed gay rights, donating hundreds of millions to AIDS research and was involved in two new museums due to open shortly – the Yves Saint Laurent Museum Paris and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech. He is succeeded by his widow, landscape designer Madison Cox.