Get A Glimpse Of The Yves Saint Laurent Exhibit At San Francisco's de Young Museum! - Stylehive

After its debut in Montreal, Yves Saint Laurent, a forty-year retrospective exhibit of the fashion designer's career, has made its way onto American soil in an exclusive United States presentation at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California. Appropriately placed in the city that recalls the revolution of the 1960's, the exhibit follows the long career of this revolutionary women's fashion designer, reminding us that women didn't always wear pants or suits. In his forty year career, Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized women's fashion, liberating women from the confines of conventional femininity by blurring gender roles with empowered silhouettes like his 1966 classic tuxedo suit for women, the Le Smoking suit. As the first French haute couturier to come out with a full ready-to-wear line, YSL also made modern women's wear both fashionable and accessible to women. With clothes on loan from the Foundation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit showcases over 120 fully accessorized outfits along with original sketches and runway show video footage. The exhibit is arranged by design motifs, placing outfits from various decades together in one seamless display to highlight key inspirations and overarching themes in YSL's oeuvre. "The Body Revealed" section of the exhibit looks at Saint Laurent's investigation of female sexuality with a 1970 evening gown with a cut-out lace back following the contours of the body as the focal point. But of course, in true YSL style, these feminine and sensual pieces are immediately juxtaposed with an array of tailored pantsuits and tuxedos. The designer goes on voyages to China, Japan, Africa, Russia, and Spain--places he never actually traveled to, but merely read about. With his imagination, he made these distant places come to life in the form of ornate garments. He romanticized Hollywood glamour with long draped gowns, including his tribute piece to Marilyn Monroe, but also returns to nature with floral inspired garments adorned with sequins and beadwork. The exhibit also follows YSL's ongoing conversation with art--a dialogue that examines the contours of the female body against the flatness of the original artwork and offers yet another glimpse into his fascination with the female form. In these conversations, YSL speaks with Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, yielding an unparalleled collaboration between two artists. And who can forget YSL's nod to Piet Mondrian's color block motif with his 1965 "Mondrian" day dress? The exhibit, spanning a remarkable forty years of fashion and design, can not be summed up with words or descriptions, so if you're planning on being in the San Francisco area within the next few months, I urge to go see it for yourself. But if distance denies your chance to see YSL's pea coat, safari jacket, or culotte skirts in person, then click on the slideshow for a glimpse of images and outfits from Yves Saint Laurent as well as a few original sketches featured in the exhibit. Yves Saint Laurent is currently at San Francisco's de Young Museum until April 5, 2009.