New Exhibit: "Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective"

Saint Laurent’s 1971 Scandale collection caused a furor among editors, who felt the designer was romanticizing the 1940s and the German occupation of France

	Saint Laurent on the runway at his final show in 2002
	A section of the exhibit entitled “The Last Ball” showcases the designer’s extraordinary talent for eveningwear

He looks like a baby, really, just 21 years old at the time he was handed the keys to a fashion kingdom. That’s what leaps to mind when you view photos taken in 1957 of a young Yves Saint Laurent, his smooth, angular, and undeniably angelic face partially hidden by horn-rimmed glasses—but then the second thought to occur is how this slight, almost gangly boy looks not at all frightened by the moment in which he had found himself: Because of the sudden passing of Christian Dior, Saint Laurent had been named to take over one of the most famed ateliers in the world.

Of course, the cherubic boy with the sophisticated, visionary eye had no cause to be alarmed, as history ultimately confirmed. With the eponymous label he founded in 1961 and until his retirement in 2002, Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized the female wardrobe, from injecting men’s wear influences during the birth of the feminist era—most notably his iconic safari jacket and his introduction of “le smoking” tuxedo dressing in 1966—to being the first French designer to launch the ready-to-wear concept and to reference ethnic influences in his designs, bringing a decidedly global flavor to Paris couture. When Saint Laurent passed away in 2008 at the age of 71, the superlatives heaped upon his talent and influence seemed endless, and justified.

Two years after his death, the foundation Saint Laurent established with longtime partner Pierre Berge presented an exceptionally comprehensive retrospective of the designer’s work, from his earliest days as Dior’s assistant-cum-successor to some of his most acclaimed designs, including his 1965 Mondrian dress and the wardrobe he crafted for longtime friend and muse Catherine Deneuve for the 1967 film Belle de Jour. Mounted at the 19th-century Petit Palais in Paris, the exhibition opened in March 2010 and was quickly named the must-attend fashion event of the year.

“I saw it in Paris and I was blown away,” says Christoph Heinrich, director of the Denver Art Museum. “I loved the span of it, the history, the visual appeal, the colors, everything that defined this great show. Once I got back to the States, I called them up and tried to make a strong case for [bringing the exhibition to] our new building.”

Heinrich was not the only museum director who had been struck by the idea, as museums in Buenos Aires, Brazil, Japan, and points beyond also were making inquiries. But several phone calls, proposals, and transatlantic visits later, Heinrich’s persistence paid off: Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective will open March 25, 2012, at the Denver Art Museum in its 146,000-square-foot Frederic C. Hamilton Building, the Daniel Libeskind-designed venue that debuted in 2006, and will be the only US venue to host the show. “This is the right place to show cutting-edge fashion design that’s also very classic,” Heinrich says. “This building was built to give the Denver Art Museum the ability to host [exhibits] like this, ambitious international shows that require a great platform. It’s also a space for great drama, and this show certainly has its drama.”

Indeed, Heinrich says he and his team were intent on reproducing the show almost exactly as it had been done in Paris, to offer viewers not only the journey from Saint Laurent’s early years at Dior on through to his later designs (more than 200 in all, both haute couture and readyto- wear), but also to present some of the exhibit’s most dramatic moments, including the wall of “le smoking” looks, a sea of exquisite suiting that gives the viewer an instant impression of his undeniable impact. More poignant and yet no less dramatic are the smaller moments, such as a painstaking reproduction of Saint Laurent’s personal space in his studio and a Belle de Jour room that allows viewers an up-close-and-personal look at his designs for Deneuve while scenes from the film play on nearby monitors.