Director of Musée Yves Saint Laurent on what the new museum in Marrakech will be like. The genius of the place: Yves Saint Laurent Museum opens in Marrakech Garden in Morocco Yves Saint Laurent

"There is a garden in Marrakech that I have a real passion for."
Yves Saint Laurent

What are the must-sees in Morocco?
Majorelle Garden by Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech.

About Yves Saint Laurent:

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent is a fashion designer who has reigned in the world of high fashion for over 40 years. After the death of Christian Dior, with whom Yves started as an assistant, in 1957 he became the head of his model house (he was 21 years old). Introduced into women's fashion elements of the men's wardrobe - leather jackets, thigh-high boots and even tuxedos (1966). Considered the founder of the unisex style.

About Majorelle Garden

Yves Saint Laurent's friend Pierre Berger said: "When Yves Saint Laurent and I first arrived in Marrakesh, we could not even think that it would become our second home."

The designer and his companion were fascinated by an abandoned garden with a collection of exotic plants from around the world, which previously belonged to the French artist Jacques Majorelle, his house-workshop was located in the garden. In 1980 they bought it and started restoration work. Many buildings by that time had fallen into disrepair, rare plants died, colors faded.
The villa and the garden were restored, the unique garden buildings were put in order and now the Majorelle Garden (it still bears the name french artist) is one of the most complete collections fauna from all over the world and is open to visitors for a nominal fee.

About the collections of Yves Saint Laurent

In the haute couture collections, I. Saint Laurent allowed himself bold experiments with styles. Possessing a brilliant gift for stylization, he could turn almost any creative source into modern clothing. In the same collection autumn / winter 1966-1967. there were "pop art" dresses - from knitted fabric with huge applications in the form of lips, hearts, female profiles and body outline. Them bright colors reminded acrylic paints paintings by artists fashion direction in art in the 1960s - "Pop Art", and the motifs of applications are surrealistic models of E. Schiaparelli. The historical costume was the prototype of costumes with velvet jackets trimmed with lace collars and culottes.
In the summer collection of 1967, I. Saint Laurent turned to an ethnic source - in short cocktail dresses under the motto "Bambara", he used motifs of primitive jewelry. Dresses were woven from linen and raffia fibers and colorful wooden beads, complemented by African-inspired jewelry and stylized African hairstyles. In the summer collection of 1968, he proposed the "safari" style - cotton models inspired by the colonial costume. In the same collection there were transparent blouses, tuxedos and jumpsuits with shorts. In 1968, Coco Chanel named I. Saint Laurent her spiritual successor, recognizing his merits for the first time. In 1969, Saint Laurent wowed the public with flamboyant blouses and skirts, imitating patchwork techniques, no doubt inspired by hippies, and transparent dresses trimmed with ostrich feathers. The first trouser suit appeared in the summer collection of 1969 male type, which was symbolically named "Leitmotif". These suits will become as much a symbol of Saint Laurent style as the tuxedo.

My impressions:

The color of the villa is very unusual - bright blue, a pond with lotuses and goldfish. And exposure graphic works Maestro on the theme "Love".

Sayings of Yves Saint Laurent

Love is the best cosmetic. But cosmetics are easier to buy.

Over the years, I realized that the most important thing in a dress is the woman who puts it on.

In this life, I regret only one thing - that jeans were not invented by me.

Clothing should be subordinated to the personality of a woman, and not vice versa.

Traveling is so great!
Nona Dronova

Marrakesh is a magical city that appeals to all the senses at the same time and intoxicates and intoxicates. The famous Yves Saint Laurent was fascinated by the exoticism of Morocco and Marrakesh, its exuberant colors and rich colors. The culture of this North African country is reflected in the fashion designer's collections.

Inspired by creating new silhouettes, he used elements of traditional Moroccan clothing in his works: jellyab, turban, embroidery. His outfits of that period were worn by the most elegant women from the world of fashion and beyond.

The world-famous couturier Yves Saint Laurent fell in love with Morocco and Marrakesh immediately, as soon as he arrived here in 1966 with his friend Pierre Berg. Subsequently, together they will buy and restore the famous Majorelle Garden (Jardin Majorelle) in 1980. This event was a real gift not only to the city, but to the whole world, as many consider the garden a wonder of the world.

Plants from all five continents are collected here. The atmosphere from the riot of greenery and the original colorful architecture is magical. A combination of contrasting blue and yellow flowers combined with traditional Moroccan elements are simply amazing. The sweet singing of birds and the soft murmur of water - this is a real oasis, an island of calm in the center of noisy and dusty Marrakech.

Easy game light and shadow at sunset makes the colors of the Majorelle Garden unique, incredibly soft and unforgettable. For the first time the garden was open to visitors since 1947, but after the death of the founder of the garden, the artist and collector Jacques Majorelle, he almost disappeared. Since on the site of an abandoned and overgrown site they were going to build modern building. The restoration work was carried out very painstakingly, but the garden was not closed to visitors for a single day.

Today, one of the buildings in the garden, the blue workshop, which was built in 1932 by the architect Paul Sinoir, houses the Museum of Islamic Art. Here is an art collection from the personal collection of Pierre Berg and Yves Saint Laurent, which includes objects not only from Morocco, but also from the Maghreb, East, Africa and Asia. We can admire ceramics, tableware, weapons, magnificent jewelry, textiles, embroidery, carpets, woodwork and other treasures. Eastern world. Here you can also see the work of Jacques Majorelle, the founder of the garden.

At the end of November 2010, the Fondation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent will show an exhibition of Moroccan-inspired works by the famous couturier in the Majorelle Garden. The exhibition will include iconic pieces from the fashion world, such as the first safari jacket (1968), which will be on display next to old photographs and original sketches.

Each of the three halls where the exposition will be exhibited will have its own name: Inspiration, Color and African Dream, thus showing the variety of Moroccan influences on Yves Saint Laurent. In the first "Inspiration" work with elements of traditional Moroccan clothing. In the second "Color" - the exotic colors of Marrakesh, which had an intoxicating effect on Yves Saint Laurent and his fans: pink, red, yellow and, of course, blue - the color of the villa and Majorelle garden. In the third hall, the emphasis is on the materials used by the couturier - wooden beads, pearls, mica and raffia.

The exhibition "Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco" will be held at the Jardin Majorelle from November 27, 2010 to March 18, 2011

"There is a garden in Marrakech,
for which I have a real passion."
Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran (Algeria) in 1936, but the richness of colors and the exoticism of North Africa struck him 30 years later when he arrived in Marrakesh.

His friend Pierre Berger says: "When Yves Saint Laurent and I first came to Marrakech, we could not even think that it would become our second home."

The designer and his companion were fascinated by an abandoned garden with a collection of exotic plants from around the world, which previously belonged to the French artist Jacques Majorelle, his house-workshop was located in the garden. In 1980 they bought it and started restoration work. Many buildings by that time had fallen into disrepair, rare plants died, colors faded.

The villa and the garden were restored, the unique garden buildings were put in order, and now the Majorelle Garden (it still bears the name of the French artist) is one of the most complete collections of flora from around the world. It should be noted that not for a single day, even during the restoration work, the garden was not closed to visitors. Even on the day when I was walking in the garden, painting work was being carried out, signs "Caution, painted" were everywhere, but the flow of visitors did not stop. Anyone can admire the wonderful monument of architectural and garden art.

It is in this villa-museum from November 27 to March 18 that an exclusive exhibition of works by Yves Saint Laurent related to Morocco takes place.

The color of the villa really stands out against the terracotta red of Marrakesh.

Entrance to the museum.

The exhibition features 44 mannequins dressed in classic designs from Yves Saint Laurent. They demonstrate the deep connection between the artist's design and Moroccan culture. Visitors are also offered unique photographs, documents, sketches showing how the couturier interpreted national clothes inhabitants of Morocco, ornaments and embroidery.

First, in the first room, we see on the walls scanned diaries of Saint Laurent, passages that relate to Morocco. All of them are accompanied by photographs from his life of a particular period.

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited in the museum, and there are almost no photos from this exhibition on the Internet, I could hardly find a few.

The first hall with clothes is called "Moroccan inspiration". Inspired by the graceful lines of kaftans and jellabs, Yves Saint Laurent embellished traditional Moroccan garments and gave them new silhouettes. He refocused the ideas of oriental attire for the free European woman of the late sixties and seventies. Models from 1969-91 are displayed in this room.

One day in 1976, speaking about one of his collections, Yves Saint Laurent said: “This collection will be colorful, lively, bright. I don't know if this is my best collection, but this is my most beautiful collection."

Moroccan Princess Lalla Salma and exhibition organizer Pierre Berger at the opening.

“I wanted,” says Pierre Berger, “that the exhibits of this exhibition told visitors about Yves Saint Laurent's love for Morocco. He is very well known all over the world, but he holds a special place in the hearts of Moroccans. worldwide famous designer I often got inspiration in this country.”

I liked the second hall the most, it is called "African Dreams". An illusion of the Sahara at night is created - darkness, a low starry sky (the room is round and mirrored, due to this it seems that there are millions of stars around), sand under the feet of the models. The outfits in this room are from the 1967 collection.

The third hall is called "Colors of Morocco". There are collected really bright couturier works of 1985-2000. The floor under the feet of the models is strewn with rose petals. And on the screen there is a fashion show that was filmed in this garden, Yves Saint Laurent himself comments on the models. Also here are amazingly beautiful precious jewelry.

In this hall, I remember most of all this poncho-jacket with bougainvillea embroidery.

I am sure that the couturier was inspired by his own garden for this model, because it is surrounded by bougainvilleas. Yves Saint Laurent liked to relax in the garden under the shade of trees, enjoying tart-sweet Moroccan tea.

With Pierre Berger at the Villa

Let's take a little walk through the magnificent Majorelle Garden.

Upon entering, we are greeted by a fountain.

bamboo grove

The whole garden is riddled with paths, along which there are many benches, people (mostly tourists) come there just to sit and read a book in the shade of trees while birds sing. The garden is cool even in the heat. This is a real oasis, an island of calm in the center of noisy and dusty Marrakesh.

Ponds with fish and turtles

Nice fountain in front of the villa

terrace

In the garden is a memorial to Yves Saint Laurent. The great couturier died in 2008 in Paris, and his ashes were later scattered over this garden.

The garden also has a shop where you can buy books and CDs about the life and work of the designer. Gallery of his abstractions, many works on the theme of love and his bulldog.

And a cozy Andalusian-style cafe

Residents of the city honored the memory of the couturier by naming the street along which the garden is located after him.

That's all. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for your attention!

That being said, there is nothing more French outside of France than Marrakesh. And that's why.

House and Museum of Yves Saint Laurent

One of the most famous couturiers in France, whose collections are often inspired by different countries actually rarely traveled abroad. The only exception was Marrakesh, which became a second home for the fashion designer. Yves Saint Laurent not only visited this city often, but also lived in Marrakesh for a long time with his life partner Pierre Berger. He first came to Marrakech in 1966, driven by fashion critics and torn apart by doubts about his own talent. This city healed him and ignited his talent even more. Together with Berger, Yves Saint Laurent bought the garden of the artist Jacques Majorelle, ennobled it and built a house nearby. After the death of the couturier, a small museum was opened in the garden, which gave an idea of ​​the life and work of the great fashion designer. A few years ago they opened new center- Africa's first museum dedicated to Yves Saint Laurent and the history of fashion. On the this moment it is more imposing and solid than the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Paris. The authors of the project were Carl Fournier and Olivier Marty, Parisian architects in love with Morocco. Studio KO, which they created, worked hard on the construction and decoration of hotels and private homes throughout the country. The building of the new museum turned out to be light, as if woven from a thousand threads. The museum contains halls of temporary exhibitions, big library, lecture halls and a cinema hall. But the main thing in the exposition is the personal belongings of the couturier, dresses and accessories from couture collections from different years. At the moment, this is perhaps the number one place to visit in Marrakesh.

Details
www.museeyslmarrakech.com

House and Museum of Serge Lutens

Unlike the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, visiting the home of one of France's most famous perfumers is not easy. As far as I know, only one hotel has the ability to send its guests there - Royal Mansour Marrakech. The cost of visiting the house-museum is not just high, but is available only to really wealthy tourists or true fans of Serge Lutens: a ticket costs 600 euros per guest. This is not a house, but a whole collection of palace houses, which in Morocco are called riads and which the maestro bought and combined into a single space year after year. For 35 years, and to this day, there is a continuous restoration. All houses are very different in size, architecture and interior content. What I saw is rather a non-residential space, and you will not find personal belongings of Serge Lutens there. But in one of these houses there is a museum that shows the distillation process and gives you the opportunity to listen to almost all the fragrances created by the maestro.

Royal Mansour Hotel

The Royal Mansour Marrakech is owned by the King of Morocco, so it's not exactly a hotel, but rather a place where you come to visit. The King and members of the royal family often visit the Royal Mansour Marrakech to see royal guests from other countries, dine or just relax. Access to the hotel while no one closes. When I was at the La Grande Table Marocaine restaurant, representatives of the royal family were having dinner with their guests in the next room. It didn’t fit in my head that you could easily sit with the princess of Morocco (the official title of the king’s wife) in the same restaurant, albeit in different halls.

French cuisine restaurant La Grande Table Francaise is one of the favorites in the city not only for the king of Morocco, but also for the local elite and expats who work in Marrakesh. Decor, porcelain, dishes, silver will take you to the banks of the Seine, where the chef comes from. To get acquainted with the cuisine, I recommend ordering a set from the chef, which includes, perhaps, the most interesting dishes of French cuisine, but with an oriental touch. As expected, the wine list is dominated by French producers, but you can also try local Moroccan wines.

In addition to La Grande Table Francaise, Royal Mansour Marrakech recently opened the perfect restaurant for lunch. The hotel is expanding its territory by planting free space orange trees and fragrant plants, turning the desert into a garden, and in one of the corners of this garden, the romantic restaurant Le Jardin appeared. Chef Yannick Alleno, the owner of three Michelin stars, offered a menu of Mediterranean cuisine with an Asian flavor, where seafood and grilled meats are complemented by dim sums and author's rolls.

Royal Mansour is a place designed for relaxation. Therefore, the hotel has one of the largest spa complexes that I have seen. The design of the building deserves special mention: going inside, it’s as if you find yourself in a large dazzling white bird cage. On a sunny day, the shadows from the forged rods are incredible. beautiful patterns on the floor and walls. On the square 2500 square meters there is a large greenhouse with a swimming pool, a fitness room, two oriental baths, a relaxation area with a tea room, a beauty salon and separate spa rooms. The Royal Mansour team of experts has chosen the best remedies: marocMaroc body care line, made in France with traditional Moroccan ingredients, Sisley for facials and Leonor Greyl for hair care. The spa offers more than 100 beauty rituals, my choice was an oriental hammam with a traditional black scrub soap cleansing and a Tahlila hair restoration treatment using a Moroccan blend of oils, herbs and plants that has helped Moroccan women restore healthy and shiny hair for centuries .

The hardest part about Royal Mansour is forcing yourself to leave your riad. Since the hotel was built as a royal guest house, the construction budget was not limited. Yes, yes, it happens. Therefore, you will not see such a design and interior decoration of the hotel, perhaps, anywhere in the world. All the best masters Morocco (and not only Morocco) for forging, wood and bone carving, working with mosaics and tiles, painting with colors and gold were involved in the construction of the hotel. Believe me, the first day of your stay will take you to carefully examine every centimeter of the space in which you find yourself. At the same time, which is absolutely incredible, there is no feeling that you are in a museum at all. Everything is done conveniently and comfortably, and throughout the rest you feel at home.

Details
www.royalmansour.com

If you still want to leave the hotel and go out into the city in the evening, I advise Le Palace - hearth French culture in North Africa. The place is remarkable not only for the food, which is no doubt good, but also for the style and general atmosphere. You seem to be transported to a French boudoir. Lots of wood and purple velvet on the walls big photos Yves Saint Laurent. The owner, Nordin Fakir, is an avid admirer of the fashion designer's personality, and the place is said to have been "blessed" by Pierre Berger himself. Here - the best cocktails in the city, in the bar there is no prosecco - only champagne. Le Palace is visited by all celebrities who visit Marrakech: Hollywood actors, top models and musicians.

Details
Corner of Avenue Echouhadda and Rue Chaouki Hivernage, Marrakesh Tel: +212 5244-58901

The facade of the new museum blends harmoniously into the landscape of Marrakech

Yves Saint Laurent first came to Marrakesh in 1966. It was a good time for the couturier: he had just launched the first Y perfume, presented a very successful collection based on the work of the artist Piet Mondrian, and invented the women's tuxedo. In Morocco, Saint Laurent sought solitude, but found inspiration. “This city taught me color. In Marrakesh, I realized that the range of colors that I had intuitively used before came from Arabic clothing and interiors - jellab, kaftans and zellige tiles. This culture became mine, but it was not enough for me just to absorb it. I transformed it and adapted it for Europe.”

Yves Saint Laurent at Jamaa el Fna square in Marrakech

In his memoirs, Saint Laurent's partner Pierre Berger, who died on September 8 of this year, a month before the opening of the museum, recalls that in the 1960s-1980s they came to Marrakesh with enviable constancy: twice a year for two weeks - 1 December and June 1st. It was here that Saint Laurent sat down to work on couture collections. The designer didn't just look for inspiration in Marrakesh: he used the Berber craft traditions for his collections in a very specific way. For example, for a 1976 show, he asked local craftsmen to weave fabrics in the same way as they do for tailoring djellaba, a traditional Berber garment, which is a loose wool robe.

Yves Saint Laurent embroidered red cape, Haute Couture collection, spring-summer 1989

Later, in the 1980s, Saint Laurent and Berger bought a villa in Marrakesh, and then bought the "blue" garden of the artist Jacques Majorelle, saving it from destruction. Today, the Majorelle Garden houses a museum of Berber culture, and next door to the museum, on a street named after the couturier, the Yves Saint Laurent Museum will open on October 19, a tribute to the designer's special relationship with this city.

Museum of Berber culture in Majorelle Garden

According to museum director Bjorn Dahlstrom, the project took two years to complete. For the new museum, the Pierre Berger Foundation, which is responsible for the designer's heritage, has spared no archives: in permanent exhibition placed 5,000 personal items of the designer, 15,000 accessories from couture collections and tens of thousands of sketches. Bjorn Dahlstrom calls the museum "a complete cultural center”, dedicated, by the way, not only to Saint Laurent himself, but also to the Berber culture, which he loved very much. There is a library with 5,000 books (some, the director of the museum emphasizes, date back to the 17th century), a lecture hall, theater Hall, book store, photo gallery. The hall for temporary exhibitions is scheduled for a year in advance: first there will be a retrospective of Jacques Majorelle, and after - exhibitions of young local artists, which the museum will hold in partnership with the Moroccan Biennale.

Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech, mid-1970s

Externally, the museum looks laconic: these are several terracotta-colored cubes covered with a delicate pattern. The authors of the project are Carl Fournier and Olivier Marty, architects of the Parisian Studio KO. Morocco has for them special meaning: they went here for the first vacation after opening their studio; here they met Patrick Guerran-Herme, an entrepreneur and billionaire who is engaged in reconstruction historical buildings in Marocco. It was Studio KO Guérran-Herme who entrusted the reconstruction of these buildings, as well as work on several hotels and restaurants in Morocco, and Pierre Bergé to work on the museum. “The Saint Laurent Museum combined our two passions, fashion and Morocco,” say the architects.

Marrakesh isn't the only city that will have a museum for the designer this fall. On October 3, the Saint Laurent Museum opens in Paris at number 5 Avenue Marceau, where the designer has worked for 30 years and now houses the building of the Pierre Berger-Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. Paris Museum will focus on the designer's couture heritage.