YVES SAINT LAURENT ONSTAGE

FROM 30 JANUARY 2026 TO 05 JANUARY 2027

Costumes and decors for theater, ballet and musical revues

As a child, Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent discovered the magic of theater in Oran, Algeria, when in 1950 he attended a performance of Molière’s L’Ecole des femmes by Louis Jouvet’s theatrical com-pany. He was particularly struck by Christian Berard’s sets and costumes.
Christian Dior, his first and only employer, encouraged the young man to explore Parisian cultural life. But it was the choreographer Roland Petit who revealed his artistic talent by entrusting him with the costumes for the ballet Cyrano de Bergerac in 1959, followed by the costumes for eight other ballets, all before Saint Laurent opened his own couture house in 1962. The couturier’s collaboration with the dancer and singer Zizi Jeanmaire gave rise to legendary musical revues and costumes, including
“Mon truc en plumes” [My Feather Thing] from 196I.
The success of his ballet designs attracted the attention of the theater and film worlds. Saint Laurent worked on numerous projects that confirmed his passion for the stage and his interpretive talent.
While his fashion sketches are remarkable, it is his work as a costume designer that truly reveals his artistry through his mastery of light, keen sense of color, and use of precise lines to embody character and movement.
Countless women have experienced the thrill of wearing Yves Saint Laurent’s creations, but it is the actors and dancers who have worn his costumes that best attest to his creative genius when designing for the stage.

Guest Curators: Domitille Éblé and Stephan Janson 
Exhibition design: Jasmin Oezcebi
Lighting: Close Your Eyes 

Press kit :

English

French

Arabic

Exhibition guide :

English

French

 

In the theatre lobby, one sees the important work
done by yves saint laurent
for the theatre, ballet, cabaret and cinema

From the beginning of the 1950s until the end of his career, the couturier was greatly influenced by the stage and screen, as seen by a selection of sketches, drawings and photographs of the costumes he designed for them. He worked alongside Roland Petit, Claude Régy, Jean-Louis Barrault, Luis Buñuel and François Truffaut. His costumes were worn by Jean Marais, Zizi Jeanmaire, Arletty, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Adjani and Catherine Deneuve, who would become one of his closest friends.