“It’s very special.French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent pioneered “cross-design” in fashion, taking inspiration from street trends to modernize haute couture. “She is photographed in Saint Laurent’s clothing and in Marrakech, so it made sense to open the museum with this series,” explains Dahlström.
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The museum has a room devoted to photography, which shows a series of Saint Laurent’s muse, French actress Catherine Deneuve, shot by German fashion photographer Andre Rau in 1992. “Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it,” he says in one clip. Old video footage from runway shows plays to a soundtrack of the Rolling Stones, opera classics and press interview audio clips where Saint Laurent muses on fashion. “Good clothing is a passport to happiness,” one says. Saint Laurent’s famous quotes are projected on the walls behind the mannequins. “He had such a gift for combining inspiration from traditional costumes he never saw with his own eyes,” says Dahlström.
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Marrakech-inspired pieces are shown in the permanent exhibition, which shows 50 of Saint Laurent’s most iconic looks on mannequins, from his safari jackets to his Russian collection from 1976 to his Romanian blouse from 1981, which pays homage to a famous painting by Henri Matisse. “The two museums show Saint Laurent’s duality his dark and colorful pieces, that he is both classical and baroque, the minimal line but also the Arabesque,” explains Dahlström. A new Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris opened the doors to the designer’s French atelier last week. “It ties into the whole idea of a fashion designer being the main subject of a museum.” “It questions Saint Laurent’s status is he an artist, a fashion designer?” asks Dahlström. The museum starts out with the iconic Mondrian collection from 1965, the cocktail dresses printed with the abstract paintings of French artist Piet Mondrian.
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“When this piece of land went on sale, Pierre Bergé bought it.” “It was such a success, it made sense to build a museum,” reveals Björn Dahlström, the director of Musée Yves Saint Laurent. The idea came about in 2010, when a Saint Laurent-themed exhibition was hosted at Marrakech’s Berber Museum. The designer and Pierre Bergé, who first came to Marrakesh on holiday in 1966. However, he was able to visit the museum before it opened to see his vision completed. A project of Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, it was spearheaded by Pierre Bergé, Saint Laurent’s business partner and former romantic partner, who passed away last month, on September 8. (He passed away six years later, in 2008.) Next door to the Majorelle Garden and steps away from his private villa, roughly 1,000 items from Saint Laurent’s studio are on view at the $17 million terra cotta museum designed by Studio KO architects.
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The museum shows creative masterpieces that span the late designer's 40-year career, from 1962 until his retirement in 2002. This can be seen in the sprawling collection of couture, accessories, sketches and photographs on display at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech, which opens to the public on Thursday. “Before Marrakech, everything was black.” “Marrakech taught me color,” said Yves Saint Laurent, who bought a cobalt blue villa in the Moroccan city and made it his vacation home in 1966.