, a limited series which debuts on Hulu today (June 7), examines the life and career of the before he became a household name as the creative director of Chanel, One of the overarching tensions in the show is Lagerfeld's professional rivalry with his friend-turned-frenemy, the French couturier Yves Saint Laurent, which turns intensely personal after Saint Laurent begins a brief but passionate affair with Lagerfeld's romantic partner, the French dandy Jacques de Bascher. In real life, this juicy love triangle sent tongues wagging across the industry and high society during the 1970s and escalated a seemingly friendly competition between Lagerfeld and Saint Laurent, who had come up together as young designers in the Paris fashion scene, into a bitter rivalry, effectively ending their friendship. Here's what you need to know about the scandalous real-life love triangle that inspired .
For the majority of their careers, Lagerfeld and Saint Laurent, both titans of French fashion, were foils to one another. These two immensely different talents and their competition with one another helped define not only fashion, but what it meant to be a fashion designer in the 20th century. Their parallel journeys began in 1954 when both designers, Lagerfeld, then 21, and Saint Laurent, then 18, entered the prestigious International Wool Secretariat (now known as the International Woolmark prize) design competition in Paris.
While Lagerfeld won first prize in the coat category, Saint Laurent nab.
