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Yves Saint Laurent: Designer in Focus

Start Date 14 September 2011
End Date 31 December 2011
Venue Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall
Location Manchester, England
Curator Miles Lambert
Exhibition shot with mannequins in gallery

From the beatnik look to the female tuxedo, Yves Saint Laurent changed the fashion world and spawned a ready-to-wear dynasty shoppers still cherish to this day in the 1960s.

Key ideas from Saint Laurent’s career are charted through the 14-dress display

The Gallery of Costume, home to the largest collection of British clothing and international fashion, hosts 14 of the pioneering Parisian’s designs here.

Representing critical points in his career including the 1958 trapeze line, the 1965 Mondrian line (inspired by 1920s Dutch abstract art), the 1968 safari look and the 1976 Russian collection.

Many of them are recent additions to a collection the venue has had even more recent to showcase since it reopened in 2010 following a £1 million renovation.

More recent creations by successors Tom Ford and Stefano Pilati complement the ones from Saint Laurent, who died in 2008.