Following an extensive renovation, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris is set to re-open, with an oder to the late designer.
Coinciding with this will be the launch of a sister museum in Morocco, also dedicated to his work. Indeed it has been nearly 50 years since his first visit.
"A visit to Marrakesh was a great shock to me," said Yves Saint Laurent.
"This city taught me color."
Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech will tell the story of the designer's career, through a selection from the archive of 5,000 pieces of clothing and 15,000 haute couture accessories, plus various sketches, drawings and objets, all of which is owned by the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent.
"When Yves Saint Laurent first discovered Marrakech in 1966, he was so moved by the city that he decided to buy a house here, and returned regularly."
"It feels perfectly natural, fifty years later, to build a museum dedicated to his oeuvre, which was so inspired by this country," said Pierre Bergé, President of the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, who was also Saint Laurent's former partner in love and business.
Some of Saint Laurent’s most iconic pieces, such as the safari jacket and the revolutionary Le Smoking suit, will be on display.
There will also be an exploration of the designer's color stories, by way of a purple and hot pink couture cape and a handful of his Mondrian-inspired creations.
The 43,000-square-foot terracotta building, designed by Studio KO to blend in with the Moroccan landscape, houses a permanent and a temporary exhibit.
There is also a research library, stocked with over 5,000 tomes on Saint Laurent, in addition to those covering Arabic and Andalusian culture and history.
The museum will host conferences and film screenings in the 130-seat auditorium and the 75-seat café will offer French and Moroccan cuisine, set against the calming views of a reflection pool.
Located on Rue Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech, this museum is just down the street from Jardin Majorelle, the garden which was designed by painter Jacques Majorelle and acquired by Saint Laurent and Bergé in 1980.
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