Yves Saint Laurent at the Seattle Art Museum…

So this is how it begins… the incredible display of Yves {Mathieu} Saint Laurent’s works at the Seattle Art Museum. This extensive collection closes on January 8, so if you haven’t visited it yet, I highly recommend you find a way to come to see it soon. But, if that is not a possibility, I will share the highlights here and now, also click on #SAMYSL for a fabulous illustrated interview with the designer.

The display chronicles his life and love of fashion beginning with his childhood hand painted signs for his “shows” of paper dolls wearing his fashions that he put on for his sisters and childhood friends, along with the glamorous paper dolls and fashions.

One of my favorite feature was the addition of the original sketches of the enormous number of collections with fabric swatches around the perimeter of the rooms,

with the coordinating pieces on display in the center of the room. Here is the iconic Mondrian dress.

Here is his colorful Wedding Coatdress…

and snips of all the fabrics used to create the intricate masterpiece.

The inclusion of many of his drawings and sketches really enhanced the exhibit and showed insight into this great designer. Here are some of his sketches for the bottle design for his Opium perfume, scandalously launched in 1977. I’ve always loved Opium perfume, it is such a rich balance of fruits and spices with strong notes of Jasmine and Sandlewood.

There are also great images of him through the years, I love this shot with his Meuse and “female twin” Betty Catroux, she’s wearing the sexy safari tunic shown on the mannequin in the foreground.