MANIFESTO

#62

NEW MODERN REALISM

GOLD

2022.10.14

Text by Lucrezia Sgualdino

Gold by Yves Saint Laurent brings to the stage the role that the gold color played in the couturier’s entire work. 

The exhibition at Musée Yves Saint Laurent celebrates the 60th anniversary of the maison’s first collection, and the then five-year anniversary of the Museum’s opening in Paris. The journey through the long history of the element of gold was therefore designed to pay tribute to these occasions. In the collection on display are Haute Couture but also ready-to-wear garments, accessories and objects dear to the master, and the indispensable jewelry that still embellishes each silhouette today. 

The tale is passed down from the first gold button adorning a peacoat, to entire gowns covered in golden highlights. Every material part of the research and development of the collections has had a history with gilded workmanship: brocades, laces, lamé and leathers, all set with gold glitter and sequins. This coloring is reflected in all the memories of Oran and Marrakech, warm places full of sun, color, traditions and cultures; it is from every moment spent in these lands beyond the Mediterranean that the bright color palette is enriched with inspiration. 

The choice to create such a distinctive and characterizing tone as one of the key elements of his work develops intrinsic to the desire to portray the feminine world as an innate, elegant and sensual, unique force. The woman created by Saint Laurent is a radiant, rich and sophisticated character. 

 

For more information museeyslparis.com.

Fall-winter 1969, Haute couture collection. © Adagp, Paris, 2022 © Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris © Matthieu Lavanchy

“I love gold, it’s a magical color; when reflecting a woman, it’s the color of the sun.”

– Yves Saint Laurent

Fall-winter 1977 show, Paris. © Guy Marineau
Yves Saint Laurent and his mother, Lucienne, at the Legends and Mirages Ball, Le Palace, Paris, April 12, 1978. © Michel Dufour – DR
Fall-winter 1988, Haute couture collection. © Arthur Elgort / Vogue Italia

“It is today’s black. I always enliven black with gold, through buttons, belts and chains.”

– Yves Saint Laurent

Studio of Yves Saint Laurent. © Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris © Matthieu Lavanchy
Spring-summer 1986, 1988 and 1989, Haute couture collections. © Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris © Matthieu Lavanchy
Fall-winter 1967, Haute couture collection. © Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris © Matthieu Lavanchy

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