Yves Saint Laurent exhibition opens at Bowes

The Bowes Museum in County Durham, northern England, has opened the UK’s first “comprehensive display” of French designer Yves Saint Laurent’s work and life, in a new exhibition in collaboration with the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent.

Yves Saint Lauren: Style is Eternal, opened on July 11, and highlights the “defining elements of his vision, and the significant influence he has had on fashion and the way we understand womenswear”. It features 50 garments from the late designer’s archive, including pieces from the Russian collection, the Mondrian dresses and tuxedos, many of which have never been shown outside Paris before.

The exhibition inhabits much of the museum’s first floor and spans his career, including designs influenced by art history, lace and transparency, and his introduction of mannish clothes for women with his jumpsuits, trouser suits and dinner jackets for the red carpet. There are also a number of accessories, drawings, paper patterns and objects conserved and kept by the Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent in its archives at 5 avenue Marceau, Paris on show.

Pierre Berge, president of the Fondation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent, said that the foundation was committed to promoting the work of YSL international and called the Bowes Museum a “perfect setting” for a Yves Saint Laurent exhibition, given the museum’s “exceptional work” with fashion and textiles.

Bowes added: “The museum and its location also clearly reflect Yves Saint Laurent’s and my own passion for inspiring, timeless places. It is the perfect setting for us – a museum built as a French chateau in the age of the Second Empire.”

Bowes Museum hosts the UK's first major Yves Saint Laurent exhibition

Joanna Hashagen, curator of fashion at The Bowes Museum, said: “We are honoured to host the first exhibition in the UK of Yves Saint Laurent, one of the most influential fashion designers of all time.

“We are also thrilled to work, alongside the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent, on an innovative display that will introduce a dialogue between the designer’s body of work and the Bowes Museum’s collection.”

The museum, located in a French-style château in the small market town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, was conceived by John and Joséphine Bowes in the late 19th century and currently houses internationally renowned collections of European fine and decorative arts spanning five centuries. The permanent collections are complemented by an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary exhibitions, as diverse as Goya, Boudin, Monet, Damien Hirst, Vivienne Westwood and Tim Walker.

The Bowes Museum has previously held a number of high profile fashion exhibitions including Vivienne Westwood Shoes, Stephen Jones Hats, Henry Poole & Co Tailoring, a retrospective of Laura Ashley and most recently 'Birds of Paradise: Plumes & Feathers in Fashion'.

Yves Saint Lauren: Style is Eternal runs until October 25.

Image: The Bowes Museum