Yves Saint Laurent Museum Opens in Marrakech, with Architecture Inspired by Designer's Creations

A striking new museum dedicated to the life and work of French fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent has opened today (19 October) n Marrakech, Morocco.

Release time : 2017-10-31 13:53:51

source : http://www.travelweekly-china.com

(Source: Travel Weekly China)

A striking new museum dedicated to the life and work of French fashion icon Yves Saint Laurent has opened today (19 October) n Marrakech, Morocco.

French architecture firm Studio KO designed the 4,000sq m (43,000sq ft) terracotta brick home of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent on a site next to the city's Jardin Majorelle, a garden the designer acquired himself to save it from being destroyed by developers.

Saint Laurent was known for his love of Marrakech and was a regular visitor from 1966 until his death in 2008.

The museum celebrates his legacy with a collection of accessories, haute couture garments, sketches, collection boards, photographs and objects he collected between 1962 and 2002. The exhibits have been lent by the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, which protects the designer's legacy and work.

Studio KO had access to the collection when designing the museum. They took inspiration from Saint Laurent's "delicate and bold forms” and his use of curved and straight lines in combination, interpreting this in the architecture of the building. The façade appears as an intersection of cubes with a lace-like covering of bricks, which creates patterns evoking "the weft and warp of fabric".

The interiors have been designed in stark contrast, with the architects creating "velvety, smooth and radiant space, like the lining of a couture jacket".

"The museum combines two worlds that we are very familiar with and that are dear to our hearts: fashion and Morocco," said Studio KO founders Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier, who have had an office in Marrakech for over a decade.

"Since the founding of our architectural firm, we have worked in this country that so inspired Yves Saint Laurent. It is with great joy that we have worked on this ambitious project, and contributed in our way to the history and prestige of the most influential fashion designer