An Afternoon with YSL

On Friday, June 8th, my husband escorted me to “Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective” at the Denver Art Museum. The weather was as beautiful as the ball gowns featured in the exhibit!

According to the Visitor Guide, “the Denver Art Museum, in collaboration with the Fondation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent is delighted to present a sweeping retrospective of the designer’s forty years of creativity. Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective features a stunning selection of two hundred haute couture (high fashion) garments along with numerous photographs, drawings, and films that illustrate the development of Saint Laurent’s style and the historical foundations of his work. Overseen by Pierre Berge and organized thematically by curator Florence Muller and exhibition designer Nathalie Criniere, this presentation melds design and art to explore the ful arc of Saint Laurent’s career, from his first days as head of the House of Dior in 1958 through the splendor of his evening dresses from 2002.”

Cameras were not allowed in the exhibit, so I took some miscellaneous photos of the outside of the exhibit.

That’s me, leaning against a lightpole with a banner for the YSL: The Retrospective, outside the Denver Art Museum.

Dozens of people (aka, YSL fans) gather outside of the exhibit. The tours began every half hour and it was still very crowded inside the exhibit.

With our tickets for the YSL Retrospective, we received a STYLE PASS, which was good for “special offers, free gifts, and more” at 74 area businesses.

The exhibit (which provided audio for several pieces in the exhibit) was divided into several sections, with the first being an audio description of Yves Saint Laurent, 1936-2008. The second section was about “The Dior Years”, followed by “Yves Saint Laurent’s Paris Studio & His Studio Of The Mind.” The fourth section featured “The Saint Laurent Gender Revolution” and several of his daytime outfits, pantsuits, and skirt suits.

This is a photo of the photos featured in the Visitor Guide.
Top Photo: 1958, Strawberry pink faille with applique roses, collection known as “Trapeze,” Danse pattern. (Yves Saint Laurent for Christian Dior)
Bottom Photo: 1990, Black sequine lace, pink satin bows. (Made to order for Mouna Ayoub)

The fifth section was about “Yves Saint Laurent and Women,” which featured outfits worn by such icons as Paloma Picasso, the Duchess of Windsor, Laurent Bacall, Diana Vreeland, and Loulou de la Falaise. The sixth section was “Yves Saint Laurent and Catherine Deneuve: An Inspired Friendship”, and featured ten outfits worn by the star.

The next section, “A Controversial Campaign”, was an audio presentation entitled,” Yves Saint Laurent by Jeanloup Sieff”. The eighth section featured “The Scandalous Collection”, which included a long black silk chiffon evening dress with black ostrich feathers (1968), a short green fox fur evening coat (1971), a short black silk jersey daytime dress with pink silk applique flowers (1971), and a short black satin crepe daytime dress with green embroidered corselet (1971).

The ninth section featured “The Imaginary Journeys”, which included a black alpaca and wool embroidered bolero and skirt with a white cotton pique blouse (1968), a pink gazar cape, gold and pink lame bolero and knickerbockers, and a bright pink satin and taffeta blouse (Torero “bullfighter” outfit, 1979), a black oilcloth jacket embroidered with gold-colored threads (evening “Opium” jacket, 1977), and a metal and red paste-glass tope, multicolored cotton voile harem pants with a multicolored printed organdy scarf (1991).

This is a photo of the photos featured in the Visitor Guide.
Top Photo: 1989, Mandarin orange gazar cape with bougainvillea-patterned embroidery, scarlet chiffon dress.
Bottom Photo: 1965, Ecru wool jersey inlaid with black, red, yellow, and blue jersey. (Tribue to Piet Mondrian)

The tenth section featured “A Dialogue with Art,” followed by the 11th section, “The Shock of Colors.” This section featured floor-to-ceiling color swatches and seven evening dresses in draped chiffon. The final outfit in this section was a “Domino” blue faille and black velvet long evening coat (1984).

The 12th section featured forty variations of Saint Laurent’s “The Iconic Tuxedo.”

This is a photo of the photos featured in the Visitor Guide.
1966, Black ‘grain de poudre’ and silk satin jacket and pants, white cotton blouse, black satin bow tie.

The 13th, and final collection of dresses, featured Saint Laurent’s “Enchanting World of Ball Gowns.” The photo on the front of the Visitor Guide (see photo near top of blog) was featured in an advertising campaign for Paris perfume. It was a “Paris Rose” satin top and back bow and a black velvet sheath skirt. Also in this section was a long black-sequined crepe evening dress, which was a tribute to Marilyn Monroe.

The final piece in the YSL exhibit was “The Heart-Shaped Necklace”, which was worn by the model wearing his favorite design in that season’s collection.

Yves Saint Laurent also designed Valentine’s Day postcards, and they always incorporated the word “LOVE” in them. My plan is to buy a three picture frame in which to display these fabulous postcards. Here are the three that I bought in the gift shop.

I also purchased a souvenir t-shirt (see below), a black-and-white YSL button, and a pencil (which I’ll never ever use).