Yves Saint Laurent: Rétrospective

(Petit Palais, 17 July 2010)

An individual is remembered for an impeccable final product---not a concept, not a prototype. It takes talent to see the possible. It takes genius to recognise the indispensable in the possible, and to see it through. Yves Saint Laurent recognised as indispensable the trouser suit known possible at least since Marlene Dietrich. He introduced dresses animated by women, instead of designing dresses defining women, who, in turn, would hope that no one else would be able to afford the same definition. Yves Saint Laurent's dress is a vocabulary, bound with dignity.

With the emergence of mass production, individual creativity replaces purchased creativity. It is not enough to hang art. To distinguish oneself, one must be art. Inhabiting an elegant dress is a helpful induction.

On mannequins, dresses tell more than they do on photographs or screen. One can see them in low light (uncharitable to cameras) as they are intended to be seen---at a ball, at night. One can see them close-up, in three dimensions, appreciate their texture and volume. Only then dresses, as sculptures, come to life.