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

 

Past Exhibitions 2025-2026

Yves Saint Laurent: The Hamish Bowles Collection
FROM 30 JANUARY 2025 TO 4 JANUARY 2026

From January 30, 2025, through January 4, 2026, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech invites you to experience Yves Saint Laurent: The Hamish Bowles Collection, fifty-three odes to elegance, brought to life through an outstanding loan that will enthral visitors.

From January 30, 2025, through January 4, 2026, the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (mYSLm) unveils a new dimension of the master couturier’s work through an extraordinary collection on loan from Hamish Bowles, an unparalleled collector and renowned fashion historian. The museum has offered Bowles carte blanche in preparing the exhibition, which offers viewers an exclusive opportunity to explore, for the first time, a collector’s perspective on Yves Saint Laurent’s pieces. The 53 vintage garments displayed are not from institutional archives, but directly from Hamish Bowles’ private collection. Bowles, a distinguished graduate of the prestigious Central Saint Martins in London, has an exceptional eye and an encyclopedic knowledge of fashion history and garment construction, making his insights invaluable. His unwavering obsession with clothing has defined his career as a fashion editor, journalist, historian and exhibition curator.

An Immersive and Baroque Scenography
Through a scenography designed by Anglo-Irish opera director Patrick Kinmonth, the exhibition invites visitors into an immersive experience, blending three iconic periods of Yves Saint Laurent’s creations: his early years at Christian Dior (1958–1960), the House of Yves Saint Laurent (1961–2002) and the evolution of SAINT LAURENT rive gauche. By offering a personal perspective on Yves Saint Laurent’s genius, this masterful exhibition, richly documented by a behind-the-scenes film directed by David Boatman and accompanied by a catalogue in French and English, celebrates the timeless modernity of the couturier’s works while inviting Moroccan and international visitors to delve into a unique heritage, captured through the passionate gaze of a world-renowned collector.

A Living Collection
The Hamish Bowles Collection is not just a reflection of the couturier’s legacy; it embodies a seamless continuity between everyday wear and exceptional runway creations. Each piece tells a story, each silhouette evokes an emotion, all paying tribute to Yves Saint Laurent’s timeless genius. This exhibition goes beyond a mere retrospective, offering an immersive and stimulating experience, inviting viewers to understand and celebrate the couturier’s lasting influence. From the cocktail dress of the 1957 Autumn–Winter collection (Dior era) to the blue SAINT LAURENT rive gauche jumpsuit worn by Betty Catroux, 53 models, accompanied by sketches, workshop notes and illustrations from the museum’s collection, reveal the unique fusion of the creator’s life and work. Garments worn by iconic figures such as Nan Kempner and Lily Safra blend with those worn by anonymous women. Lastly, a 1969 patchwork ensemble evokes the influence of Marrakech on his creations, highlighting the special aura of Yves Saint Laurent, who continues to inspire women across the world.

Guest Curator: Hamish Bowles
Exhibition design: Patrick Kinmonth Atelier
Lighting: Studio ZNA 

Press kit :

English

French

Exhibition Guide :

English

French

Arabic

 

Past Exhibition 2024 – 2025

LES FLEURS D’YVES SAINT LAURENT
FROM 2 MARCH 2024 TO 5 JANUARY 2025

The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech (mYSLm) is delighted to announce the opening, on March 2, 2024, of the exhibition Les Fleurs d’Yves Saint Laurent, which will coincide with the seventh anniversary―in October 2024―of the founding of the Yves Saint Laurent museums in Marrakech and Paris. For the first time, the two museums will prepare and mount a joint exhibition and catalogue project under the curatorship of Gaël Mamine and Olivier Saillard.

Olivier Saillard curated the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent: The Scandal Collection, 1971, seen at the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent, Paris in 2015. At the time, Gaël Mamine was head of collections at the Foundation. Together, they mounted their first joint exhibition,Yves Saint Laurent: Line and Expression, which was seen alongside the exhibition Cy Twombly: Morocco, 1952/1953. These two exhibitions, which were seen at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech in 2023, placed drawing at the heart of the work of the French couturier and American artist.

Together, Olivier Saillard and Gaël Mamine are preparing a second exhibition, Les Fleurs d’Yves Saint Laurent, to be mounted simultaneously at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris. The exhibition will focus on the passion that Yves Saint Laurent, as well as Pierre Bergé, had for nature. Saillard and Mamine will place lilies of the valley, bougainvilleas, roses, wheat, poppies and lilies on herbarium boards that could have been imagined by the couturier.

Exhibition curators: Olivier Saillard, Gaël Mamine
Exhibition design: Claudia Huidobro

Press kit :
English
French
Arabic