Elsa Janssen – författare

A bold and fashionable look at the iconic golds of Yves Saint Laurent—in jewelry, couture, and accessories—from the 1960s to the 2000s“I love gold, it’s a magical color; when reflecting a woman, it’s the color of the sun.”As the official catalogue of the Gold, les ors d’Yves Saint Laurent exhibition in Paris, this stunning book presents the couture, jewelry, and accessories inspired by the golds of Yves Saint Laurent from the 1960s to the 2000s. This eye-catching metallic has been featured heavily throughout the entirety of the designer’s work: from the very first buttons adorning his pea coats to dresses that appear entirely fashioned from gold, no collection escaped the couturier’s “golden” touch. This heavily illustrated and photographed book presents Saint Laurent’s exquisite designs as we follow the thread of gold throughout his collections, offering special insight into the work and intricate techniques used to make the brocades, laces, lamés, leathers, and embroideries of YSL shine. Drawing on a large number of archival documents, interviews, and other resources such as films and shows, Yves Saint Laurent: Gold will show how the cultural, artistic, and social contexts of the time, especially the emancipation of women, resulted in these timeless designs. From the jeweled dress designed for his Autumn/Winter 1966 collection and photographed by David Bailey, to the sequined dresses worn by Zizi Jeanmaire and Catherine Deneuve, Gold sparkles as it conjures up the true treasures of Saint Laurent’s legacy and spirit.

Legendary couturier Yves Saint Laurent continually reinvented the silhouette throughout his career, from his modernist “Trapeze” dress for Christian Dior in 1958 to his pop art illusion prints.A fashion revolutionary, Yves Saint Laurent and his creations were resolutely modern. His ongoing exploration of shape and form incessantly pushed the boundaries of his creativity and led to his most groundbreaking and iconic designs. His works were influenced by the artistic trends of the time—from simple and geometric abstraction to constructivism and concrete art—whose many movements mirror the multifaceted talent of the designer. A bold, exacting gesture underpinned his art: his minimalist dresses were often monochromatic compositions seemingly sprung from a single line. A colorist, he imagined pure yet exuberant abstract designs by combining flat surfaces in vibrant hues. Transposing pictorial material onto textiles, he thus balanced color, form, surface, and line. An illusionist, he would juxtapose black and white to suggest movement in the garment through optical illusion. By using flat, simple lines, shape prevailed over color.This volume accompanies an exhibition, Yves Saint Laurent: Shapes and Forms, at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris from June 9, 2023, to January 14, 2024, which features key pieces from the Yves Saint Laurent archives in dialogue with the set design and works by ceramic artist Claudia Wieser.