Barricades five blocks long and manned by ceremonially dressed police guards surrounded the Eglise Saint Roch on the rue Saint Honore in Paris this cloudy afternoon at three o'clock.
Only guests with engraved invitations were let through before the eyes of a bevy of photographers worthy of a triple A list fashion show.
It seemed fitting that the funeral of Yves Saint Laurent would be staged in this manner.
He is a true hero in France : the newspapers have not stopped talking about him for the past four days.
The church itself is over three centuries old and is known as the artists' haven here in Paris. Upon entering I was struck by the sweet perfume of jasmine mixed with lilies standing in profusion around the ornate altar and columns. Then the parade of the creme de la creme of the Parisian and international fashion world entered-designers Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, John Galliano (in a black velvet cap decorated with white buttons) Stefano Pilati, Marc Jacobs, Valentino, Vivienne Westwood, Sonia and Nathalie Rykiel, Giambattista Valli. They sat next to other fashion notables such as Bernard Arnault, Francois Henri Pinault, Robert Polet, Jonathan Neuhaus and Franca Sozzani. YSL's best girlfriends : LouLou de la Falaise, Betty Catroux and Catherine Deneuve, (dressed in a simple Saint Laurent black trench coat) seemed visibly shaken by the loss...
I recognized his models : Laetitia Casta in a stunning long sleeved decollete black velvet dress. Lucie de la Falaise later told me she spent a decade modelling for him in the late eighties, to mid nineties...and adored working for him.
Chanel models Claudia Schiffer and Ines de la Fressange attracted a lot of the photographers' attention...
The church was filled with his workers, from the atelier and showroom, his mother, ramrod straight and elegantly dressed, his two discreet sisters and some French showbiz notables such as Arielle Dombasle.
But let's not forget the politicians in attendance : the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, the wives of two past French presidents: Danielle Mitterand and Bernadette Chirac, and now president, Nicolas Sarkozy discreetly accompanied by a soberly dressed Carla Bruni Sarkozy .
Then the heavy doors opened and the simple wood coffin was solemnly carried in total silence with longtime companion and business partner Pierre Berge at its head. A golden silk throw decorated with sheaves of wheat was unfurled to cover the coffin when it arrived before the altar.
The high funeral mass was very moving with a live orchestra and singer performing Vivaldi , Brahms and Mozart's Requiem. Catherine Deneuve read a touching poem about love from Walt Whitman, and Pierre Berge's eulogy did not leave a dry eye in the church.
He said goodbye to his friend of half a century "with respect, admiration and love". He told us Yves' ashes would be scattered in his garden in Marrakesh, but had he had a tomb, he would have inscribed simply : here lies a " couturier francais ". He noted that a page has turned in fashion history.
After the mass, both Marc Jacobs and Giambattista Valli agreed while we quietly chatted that Saint Laurent was their true fashion hero . "We came to Paris because of him ", noted Valli.

Posted by MADELEINE CZIGLER, Paris Bureau