The line waiting outside the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Petit Palais on Friday morning. Get your ticket at FNAC please. I walzed in with no hindrance. Assuming you'll be in Paris.
This bow affair is one of YSL's early works at Dior.
Red lips on black velvet and a major charmer.
YSLs' influence by art is evident throughout the exhibit - Mondrian and Matisse to name two artists.
Strong exotique influences of the Near East and Morocco, his home away from Paris - another strong theme.
Braque-influenced gowns.
YSL was such an innovator, constantly referencing sources. There's a room of just fabric swatches. YSL was a great colorist.
Pink, his favorite color.
15 rooms to view and near the end this collection of brilliant evening gowns. It's worth getting the audio tape, though it might take a week to get through.
A large room painted black and completely covered with YSL's 'Le Smoking' tuxedo suits.
Sketches always catch my eye - YSL's Trench.
Word out is YSL could be impossibly cranky and unreasonable at times. Perhaps too much drink, drugs.Read The Beautiful Fall by Alice Drake for the whole story. There's also a new book out on this aspect of his personality, Mauvais Garcon/Naughty Boy.
Yet this pic of YSL with all of his French Bull Terriers won me over completely - he's obviously gaga over his doggies.Who do you think is the boss here?
Over the years, he owned an endless string of French Bulldogs, each 'Brindle pied', each called Moujik. Upon the death of each dog, he immediately acquired another Moujik.
What can one say?
BONJOUR YSL!
This was a great and interesting post! I totally want to see the expo now myself. I'll remember to hit the FNAC for tickets thanks to your suggestion.
ReplyDeleteHope you're doing well. Bonne semaine!
Oui!
ReplyDeleteLa Frenchie!
...Fantastic
....D'Accord
...Mollie et moi.
Voila!
Deborah
Love these photos...Paris is my other home and this was such a nice way to get a glimpse of paris while away...
ReplyDeleteIt looks to be a fantastic show!
ReplyDeleteI hope I will make it there this year.
YSL = breathless. Another reason to go to Paris; where is that rich uncle when you need him?
ReplyDeleteYour report is so tempting! Especially the part on fabric swatches, which is interesting but easily missed by a careless visitor... wish I could fly to Paris now!
ReplyDeleteyou must have been in heaven..with the colours, the sketches and the gowns...thanks for taking us all there...and being bold with your camera..ahem.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great peek inside the show. I find the bulldogs to be the most endearing part of the picture! Yves clearly had a soft spot in his heart for
ReplyDeleteMoujik(s!)
Great photos of YSL with the dogs. Love 'em! I'm a huge fan of fabric swatches. As someone who sews, I have always collected them--they're beautiful, aren't they.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I read you! You stand in line for me and even send me great photos from inside! Merci beaucoup Carol..!
ReplyDeleteI'm sick that I'm not going to be able to see this. It looks so wonderful. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteW - O - W -!!!
ReplyDeleteAnother reminder of what makes France great. Thanks so much C.
I miss him. I really do. As for his naughtiness...he was very troubled & had trouble with depression. It's not easy to deal with that & have such a career, too. So I give him leeway here.
ReplyDeleteWonderful tour, merci.
Glorious exhibit!
ReplyDeleteFantastic exhibition!
ReplyDeleteI often feel empathy for people in the public eye. Reading that "YSL could be quite cranky and unreasonable at times" sounds like one more real genius a bit too large for people around him too small minded to try to understand. Just looking at the sheer immensity of his Œuvre makes me feel in awe, unable to even imagine how he managed to create so much and of such quality.
A quotation from the New York Times obituary: "The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves," he once said. "But for those who haven't had the good fortune of finding this happiness, I am there."
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should have added before: a bit of an old-world sentiment, of course, but still very charming, and SO modest!
ReplyDeleteCarol, you're an angel -- Thanks for posting this! I'm going to be in Paris next week, so thanks for that tip regarding tickets. Is FNAC the best place to get tickets? I think I need to see this exhibit.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a nice time; I'm seriously in need of the whole "spring in Paris" concept, most definitely. And alas -- spring has indeed arrived here in northern Europe, at long last.
XO
Michael
PS: Have you ever been to the Ladurée bar? I've only ever been to the shop near St. Sulpice, but isn't the bar on (or just off) the Champs Élysées?
I loved the swatch room. What fun to look and think about all the colors!
ReplyDeleteYour photos inside the Petit Palais
ReplyDeleteare some of your best yet - great eye, Carol!
I love to be an insider. (I'm surprised that you were allowed to take photos.) The dresses and presentation of them are fabulous. Also, I need to thank you for my beautiful watercolor that you painted for me! My friend ordered a Paris roses double teacup painting with a macaroon on the side, for me, for my birthday. Now I have a Gillot original to admire while I am in my kitchen, so thank you again...
ReplyDeleteI love to be an insider. (I'm surprised that you were allowed to take photos.) The dresses and presentation of them are fabulous. Also, I need to thank you for my beautiful watercolor that you painted for me! My friend ordered a Paris roses double teacup painting with a macaroon on the side, for me, for my birthday. Now I have a Gillot original to admire while I am in my kitchen, so thank you again...
ReplyDeleteYou are,as always, incredibly clever: You went to Paris and did not have to suffer through the Daylight Savings time "spring forward"! When you come back, you can chalk it all up to jet lag. I, who did not go to Paris (what was I thinking?) am dragging....
ReplyDeleteYou are,as always, incredibly clever: You went to Paris and did not have to suffer through the Daylight Savings time "spring forward"! When you come back, you can chalk it all up to jet lag. I, who did not go to Paris (what was I thinking?) am dragging....
ReplyDeletemany "brilliant" creative people have that bad side...guess it comes with the territory for them.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing your experience with those of us who'll never be able to see it in person.
I've been following your blog ever since we met last Spring and I have to tell you how wonderful you are! I particularly love your most recent adventures in Paris. So delicious!
ReplyDeleteYou are a complete inspiration. And I am saving my pennies (or euros, actually) to buy one of your watercolors. Oh, and I keep thinking how you were so completely ahead of your time with the Macaron craze!
Lots of love,
Jamie
lovely....ive been meaning to go but the lines have deterred me. fnac, eh?
ReplyDeletea bientot
the paris food blague
Saw this last year at the De Young.
ReplyDeleteJust fabulous!
I wanted everything on display.
xxx
I was just at the YSL exhibit on March 30th and it was beyond fabulous! It had only been on for about a couple of weeks at that point.
ReplyDeleteI went on line and bought the tickets before I left the States and printed them. If you go on www.yslretrospective.com there is an area that will take you to the website where the tickets can be purchased. The website is in French, but I figured it out fine. They are 11 Euros each.
The line outside the exhibit was very long. Then there was another line where there was no one. I went to that line first and then presented by printed tickets and I had also printed, and taken along, the other ticket-related paperwork just in case. The guy looked it over, smiled, and removed the rope and flagged my friend and me through. We were the only two people let in at that time.
After we finished the exhibit, and went back outside, many of the same people were still standing in line.