Photo: © Pierre Boulat / Courtesy Association Pierre & Alexandra Boulat1/16Yves Saint Laurent preparing his first collectsion with Victoire Doutreleau, December 1961.
Photo: © Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, Paris2/16Paper dolls by Yves Saint Laurent, circa 1950. Dolls cut from magazines and glued onto cardboard; garments made of paper cutouts, ink, watercolor, and gouache.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts3/16“The Beatnik Couturier” section of the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show at the VMFA.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts4/16This silk velvet wedding gown from Yves Saint Laurent’s Fall 1970 Haute Couture collectsion reads Love Me Forever (on the front) Or Never (on the back).
Photo: Jean-François Chavanne / © Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent, Paris5/16Soir Spring 1971 Haute Couture collectsion board, Yves Saint Laurent. Mixed media on thick grid paper pinned with fabric swatches.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts6/16
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts7/16In the center is a Matisse-inspired ensemble from the Fall 1981 Haute Couture collectsion; at right is a gold-embroidered look ordered by Diana Vreeland from the Spring 1980 Couture show.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts8/16“The Genders” section of the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts9/16The “Modular Wardrobe” section of the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show features pieces from the designer’s innovative Saint Laurent Rive Gauche line.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts10/16Dresses in the “Artistic Influences” section of the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show reference the work of Piet Mondrian and Tom Wesselman.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts11/16Accessories, as well as clothes, are included in the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts12/16View of the “From Darkness to an Explosion of Color” section of the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show at the VMFA.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts13/16A brown silk velvet cloak with gold lamé passementerie from the Fall 1976 Haute Couture collectsion, at right; the Lesage-embroidered couture jacket, left, is from 1977.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts14/16View of the “From Darkness to an Explosion of Color” section of the “Yves Saint Laurent: Perfection of Style” show at the VMFA.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts15/16From the “Opéra-Ballets-Russes” couture collectsion of Fall 1976, a silk chiffon lamè blouse; silk moire petticoat skirt, and embroidered silk velvet belt with passementerie ties.
Photo: David Stover / © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts16/16From left: A wedding gown from the Fall 1995 couture collectsion, an ivory and black dress from Spring 1980 couture, and a piece worn by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild for the 1971 Proust Ball share space with an Andy Warhol portrait of Yves Saint Laurent.
