Over the summer, The Orange County Museum of Art had an amazing exhibition on Yves Saint Laurent called “Yves Saint Laurent : Line and Expression.” The exhibition focused on Saint Laurent’s sketches, specifically the ones he created on his stays in Marrakech.
From OCMA, “Yves Saint Laurent: Line and Expression explores the rich body of exploratory graphic work by Yves Saint Laurent. Delving deeper into the vast collection of works left by the great French couturier, Line and Expression explores his drawing practice—simple but highly evocative line illustrations that reveal the genesis of his designs. Drawn with pencil on paper, Saint Laurent’s sketches capture the essence of his material choices, from the ethereal of chiffon to the shimmer of silk, the textural weave of tweed to the sumptuousness of velvet.
Saint Laurent traveled extensively to Morocco and an incredible number of the designs were drawn during his twice-a-year stays in the city of Marrakech. There surrounded by colors dear to his heart, he could dream up his next collection in complete solitude. For hours, whole days, even nights, Saint Laurent would let pencils and pens glide across the paper, tracing the black contours of silhouettes to bring a collection of imaginary clothes alive with color. These rapid line drawings would then be magically transformed by the Paris ateliers into his mythical creations. Line and Expression celebrates the act of drawing at the heart of the creative process behind Saint Laurent’s collections.”
W Magazine had a really great article about the exhibition that gave some more context. “In the early 20th century, couturiers from Madeleine Vionnet to Cristóbal Balenciaga and Madame Grès approached their craft through fabric, draping directly on mannequins. Building on the work of his mentor, Christian Dior—who famously drew the New Look collection in graphic lines—Saint Laurent made illustration core to the fashion house he established in 1962. During his twice-a-year stays in his beloved Marrakech, Saint Laurent would fill suitcases with preparatory drawings in 2B pencil, which he would then share with his studio team upon his return to Paris to begin fashioning the new collections.
Line and Expression explores Saint Laurent’s simple but highly evocative illustrations, which reveal the genesis of his minimalist aesthetic—when the heaviness of post-war fashion gave way to a more liberated body of work. Co-curators Olivier Saillard and Gaël Mamine selected 104 of the designer’s sketches for some of his most iconic styles like the Pop Art cocktail dresses, Ballet Russes peasant dresses, and le smokings from a trove of more than 60,000 preserved by the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent. “Yves Saint Laurent was really into the process of creating something new through drawing,” says Mamine. “Through just three or four lines, you feel something really strong and pure.”
In addition to the sketches, there was also an installation of archive garments that was so stunning to see in person.
It was amazing to see how timelessly modern his designs remain, and to see his actual sketches up close.
This exhibition was on loan from the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech. Hopefully it will be able to visit other cities as it’s definitely a must-see!