French fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent, one of the best-known and most influential fashion designers of the 20th century, died yesterday at his Paris apartment. Saint Laurent, 71, will be buried on 5 June.

The frail and reclusive Saint Laurent, who changed the way 20th century woman dress, died of a brain tumour after a prolonged illness. The news was confirmed by a spokeswoman for the Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.

Saint Laurent rode into the fashion scene in 1958 as a boy-wonder to succeed Christian Dior and endured as one of the best-known and most influential couturiers of the second half of the 20th century. He retired from haute couture in 2002 after a four-decade career that started in 1957.

Saint Laurent, who achieved instant fame in 1958 at the age of 21 when he showed his Trapeze collection, his first for Christian Dior after the master's death, remained at the top of his profession as fashion changed from the formal to custom-made haute couture and to casual sportswear.

His influence was at its peak during the 1960s and the '70s.

Saint Laurent, who was largely responsible for changing the way modern women dress, sought inspiration from the streets to the US Army-Navy stores.

It was Saint Larrent who brought the day-and-night pants, the peacoats and safari jackets, the `le smoking' jacket, leopard prints and trench coats – that found their way into fashionable women's wardrobes around the world.

''My small job as a couturier,'' he once said, ''is to make clothes that reflect our times. I'm convinced women want to wear pants.''

Among the women of style who wore his clothes were Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso, Nan Kempner, Lauren Bacall, Marella Agnelli, Bianca Jagger and Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.

A retrospective of his designs was held at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in 1983 when he was 47, the first time the museum had honored a living designer.

That exhibition was followed by retrospectives in Paris, Beijing, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and Sydney, Australia. He had already peaked by then.

''A woman's wardrobe shouldn't change every six months. You should be able to use the pieces you already own and add to them. Because they are like timeless classics,'' said a mellowed Saint Laurent.

Yet, he managed to retain his stellar position in the world of fashion through his retirement in 2002.

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria, on 1 August 1936, to Charles and Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent. His father was a lawyer and insurance broker, his mother a woman of great personal style.

He grew up in a villa by the Mediterranean with his two younger sisters, Michelle and Brigitte.

His mother and sisters, all living in Paris, survive him.