Yves Saint Laurent, a French designer was born in Algeria and spent his time until teens in Algeria. He first gained prominence when he won the first prize in International Wool Secretariat contest for designing a cocktail dress in 1954. He then started working for Christian Dior at the age of 18 and then in 1960 he was called back to Algeria to join the army. Two years away from work where he mostly suffered from nervous breakdown after just 20 days on the job, he realised his job with Dior was gone when he got back to Paris. This resulted him starting out on his own. In 1983, YSL became the first living designer to be honoured by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his own solo exhibition.
