Nobody Loved an Art Reference More Than Yves Saint Laurent

In the 40 years that Yves Saint Laurent helmed his namesake label, the designer took inspiration from art of all kinds: painting, dance, and poetry among them. But Saint Laurent—a renowned collectsor and a friend to many artists, including Andy Warhol and Bernard Buffet—was particularly fond of visual media, with fine art references popping up from the 1960s through to his final couture show in 2002.

Saint Laurent referenced a swathe of artistic movements in his work. Perhaps his most famous is his series of Piet Mondrian-inspired dresses, which he sent down his fall 1965 runway. In 1988, he paid homage to a range of artists, from Georges Broque to Vinvent van Gogh, their most recognizable motifs splashed across the bodies of his models. The designer didn’t shy away from any movement: he borrowed Buffet’s severe black geometric lines in his spring 1990 couture collectsion, and embraced Pierre Bonnard’s colorful Post-Impressionism in 1999. In another instance, he combined his love of art and dance, using Pablo Picasso’s costumes for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes production of Parade to inspire his harlqeuinesque skirts.

Saint Laurent’s successors shared his fondness for art. In 1999, under Alber Elbaz, Mario Sorrenti photographed a campaign inspired by famous paintings; Noot Seear did her best Mona Lisa smile, while Kate Moss flipped the script on Luncheon on the Grass.

This year’s Costume Institute exhibition, “Costume Art,” and the accompanying 2026 Met Gala dress code “Fashion Is Art,” are uniquely concerned with fine art’s intersection with fashion. With Saint Laurent’s current creative director, Anthony Vaccarello, serving as a co-chair of the Host Committee, perhaps he will use the moment to add to his house’s rich artistic history.

Here, see the artists who inspired Yves Saint Laurent.