The great Yves Saint Laurent had a villa in Morocco’s Red City and was inspired by its colours and styles.
This spectacular museum is the larger of two new spaces dedicated to the fashion master – the other is in Paris
The renowned fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent first visited Marrakech in 1966. Now a museum dedicated to the fashion house has opened in the city that had such a strong influence on him. In the words of Pierre Bergé, the French fashion tycoon who co-founded the fashion house and passed away on 8 September, just a month before the opening: “It feels perfectly natural, 50 years later, to build a museum dedicated to his oeuvre, which was so inspired by this country.”
The opening coincides with the inauguration of another museum dedicated to the designer in Paris. The two museums will showcase a collection made up of 5,000 articles of clothing and 15,000 haute couture accessories.
The building was designed by Studio KO, an architectural firm established by Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier. The outside of the building is intended to evoke the “weft and warp of fabric” while the interior is designed to evoke the lining of a couture jacket, “velvety, smooth and radiant.”
As well as Morocco, Mondrian was a key influence on the work of Yves Saint Laurent. These references informed the design of the museum’s logo and graphic identity, which was overseen by Philippe Apeloig, who designed the poster for the 2010 Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the Petit Palais in Paris.
As well as displaying the collection of clothing, the museum will also display tens of thousands of drawings and photos charting the history of the fashion house.
The 150-seat auditorium, named after Pierre Berge, will be used for performances and recitals, as well as conferences, film screenings and lectures.
Le Studio Cafe, named after Yves Saint Laurent’s workplace in Paris, will be a simple contemporary space, offering a fusion of traditional Moroccan and French dishes.
