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Yves Saint Laurent: Les Coulisses De La Haute Couture À Lyon

Start Date 08 November 2019
End Date 07 March 2020
Venue Musée des Tissus de Lyon
Location Marseilles, France
Curator Aurélie Samuel and Esclarmonde Monteil,
Designer NC Agency, Nathalie Crinière
Exhibition display in gallery with mannequin in foreground and background
Exhibition display of dressed mannequin

From November 9, the extraordinary universe and talent of Yves Saint Laurent mingle with the sublime fabrics of the emblematic Lyon houses. The whispering of muslins, the shimmering of shapes, the softness of velvets are revealed in this unique exhibition, which illustrates more than forty years of close and faithful collaboration in the service of creation.

Through twenty-five silhouettes, the course, organized in four parts and scenography by Nathalie Crinière, presents the creative process of Yves Saint Laurent and puts the spotlight on eight Lyon houses (Bianchini-Férier, Bouton Renaud, Brochier, Hurel and Sfate & Combier, for silks, but also converters and intermediaries, the houses Bucol, Abraham and Beaux-Valette, which had the fabrics manufactured between the Rhône and Saône). The visit continues with the extraordinary wedding dress from the fall-winter 1980 collection in which Yves Saint Laurent pays homage to the poets he admires and who inspire him. A discovery which ends with an immersion in the workshop with a nice emphasis on technique, allowing for example to learn to differentiate a muslin from a taffeta.

A meeting that will be accompanied by a rich and varied program, especially for young audiences and disabled audiences, but also the publication of a catalog made up of essays and illustrated with more than 160 fashion photographs, textiles and archival documents.

More than a tribute to Yves Saint Laurent, as to the creators of the shadows, the exhibition is also a hymn to the material, to the technique and to the secular know-how of an entire territory. With this event, the Musée des Tissus de Lyon is renewing its policy of ambitious exhibitions in the great tradition of presenting renowned designers of haute couture. A unique event, symbol of the rebirth of the Tissue Museum at the initiative of the Region and textile manufacturers, organized in collaboration with the Yves Saint Laurent Paris museum.

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Images © Musée des Tissus – Pierre Verrier.