Yves Saint Laurent fêtes first show’s 60th anniversary at six Parisian museums

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Yves Saint Laurent's first fashion show, a series of retrospectives will be staged in six Parisian museums. This extensive exhibition project will focus on the work of the great French couturier, emphasising the way in which he shaped fashion and influenced future generations, and highlighting his creative power and his links with a domain that inspired as well as enthralled him, art.

On January 29 1962, a young Yves Saint Laurent presented his first collection under his own name, at 30 bis rue Spontini in Paris, immediately demonstrating his unique style. Saint Laurent was then aged 26, but he was no rookie, since a few years before he had replaced Christian Dior, who had passed away suddenly. The result was the ‘Trapèze’ collection, a genuine milestone that still influences the younger generations. The Yves Saint Laurent style was born, and would continue to thrive over the years, influenced by various forms of art.

The ‘Yves Saint Laurent aux Musées’ anniversary exhibition has an unprecedented format, a first for the world of fashion. It not only spotlights the great French designer’s creative power, affording a broad overview of his most iconic creations and of some of his lesser-known models, but it is also designed to prompt a dialogue between his creations and the permanent collections of a number of Parisian museums, paying tribute to Saint Laurent’s close ties with the art world.

Curated by the Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent Foundation, the exhibition will be held simultaneously in six Parisian museums, from January 29 to May 15 2022. The designer's creative journey will be showcased at the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art, the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the National Picasso Museum in Paris and, of course, the Yves Saint Laurent Paris Museum. The latter will exhibit part of the fashion house’s archives, the majority of which have never been accessible to the public.

"The exhibition is conceived like an archipelago. It stimulates a new form of dialogue and encourages visitors to chart their own journey from one museum to another, taking them into previously unknown and entirely new dimensions. It is also a matter of going beyond an exhibition’s traditional format, playing with shared affinities, creating exciting new experiences, in order to provide a fresh perspective on the works of Yves Saint Laurent,” as indicated in a press release by the Yves Saint Laurent Paris Museum.