Retrospective exhibition YSL in San Francisco |
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| Tuesday, 25 November 2008 | |
 Yves Saint Laurent, considered as one of the most influential fashion designers in the second half of the 20th century, is honored with an exclusive US retrospective at the San Francisco's De Young Museum. The first Yves Saint Laurent retrospective since his death earlier this year displays more
 than 120 of the designer's haute couture ensembles. The pieces span his 40-plus-year career, from his early days at Dior to his final Spring/ Summer runway collection in 2002, the year he retired.
The exhibition, displayed in a gallery with low lighting and the feel of a giant walk-in closet, is structured around four themes. It showcase how Saint Laurent redefined the silhouette by introducing the trapeze line, how he produced runway travelogues that borrowed from Russian, Chinese and Moroccan native dress, and how he made the perennial fashion motifs of flora and fauna his own. The exhibition includes over 120 accessorized outfits belonging to the Foundation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent as well as Saint Laurent's drawings, photographs and videos. Some of the most striking pieces are a 1988 Van Gogh "Irises" jacket embroidered with 40 pounds of sequins and beads; a 1997 garden party of a gown with a thicket of pink and green organza flowers, leaves, semiprecious stones and satin ribbons; a 1990 coat flocked with flame-colored rooster, pheasant and vulture feathers. Also on display are six African-inspired pieces from the 1967 Spring/Summer collection, beginning with a silk organza column gown with wood beading that's patterned after textiles from the Congo and ending with a raffia coat as big as a wigwam. The exhibition, which runs through April 5 in San Francisco, is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, in collaboration with the Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. Image: De Young Museum |
