In 1965, a 22-year-old Catherine Deneuve, just fresh of shooting Repulsion with Roman Polanski, was invited to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II. Her then husband, fashion photographer David Bailey, suggested she asked Yves Saint Laurent for an evening dress.

“I arrived at Rue Spontini with a photo from the Russian Collection from the previous year which he agreed to create for me,” the 75 year old star recalls.

The designer created a long white crepe dress with a panel of red embroidery. It was the beginning of a long professional collaboration and friendship, which would lead Yves Saint Laurent to design Deneuve’s iconic wardrobe for Luis Brunel’s Belle de Jour, as well as La Chamade, la sirene du Mississipi, Un Flic, Liza and The Hunger.

 “His consummate gravitas during the fittings together with his shy charm outside the atelier made all the years we shared so enchanting - our silent complicity, our crazy laughter and our melancholy brought us together,” she says.

 On January 24, Christie’s France will be auctioning nearly 150 lots - dresses, suits and accessories - by the designer from the star’s personal collection during Couture Week. The auction house will sell another 150 lots through an online sales Jan 23-30

 Deneuve said she decided to sell YSL’s creations with a certain sadness, but had to after selling her house in Normandy where she had kept the extensive collection .

“These are the creations of such a talented man who only designed clothes to beautify women,” she remarks