Paris celebrates Yves Saint Laurent

Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre, one of six museums exhibiting works by Yves Saint Laurent, explores his fascination with light, gold and, above all, pomp and splendor. A unique event, the exhibition "Yves Saint Laurent aux musées" shows how art inspired the fashion designer. Visitors can look at his designs displayed alongside the artwork that inspired it.

In 1992, Yves Saint Laurent designed these evening dresses in hues of bronze, emerald, fuchsia and absinthe. The couturier did not come up with the eccentric color combinations himself, but took a lead from the French Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. The wall painting dates from 1932 and can be admired at the Musee d'Art Moderne along with Yves Saint Laurent's dresses.

Yves Saint Laurent was only 26 years old when he launched his first collection on the Paris catwalk on January 29, 1962. Many of his gowns are directly inspired by works of art, especially paintings by French artists. This satin gown is on view at Musee d'Art Moderne. It references a 1937 garden landscape by Pierre Bonnard.

Art lovers can immediately tell who inspired this short jacket: Vincent van Gogh. It was part of the 1988 Spring-Summer collection, presented on the catwalk by top model Naomi Campbell. Worldwide, there are only four copies of the silk-lined jacket. Each one took more than 600 hours to embroider by hand.

Yves Saint Laurent quoted from various eras of art history. Georges Braque's Cubism, too, inspired the fashion designer and prompted him to create this classic for the 1988 Spring-Summer collection. With its stark lines and contrasts, the cape echoes Cubism.

Musée Picasso is one of the museums participating in the tribute to Yves Saint Laurent. This bolero jacket quotes Picasso's portrait of Nusch Eluard. "I believe that the work of a fashion designer is very similar to that of an artist. In fact, I have always been inspired by the works of contemporary painters: Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian," Saint Laurent once said in an interview.

A fox fur was dyed green for the 1971 fall/winter collection, matching the color of a 1964 painting by Martial Raysse. A total of 50 creations and about 300 designs will be on display in the exhibition at the six museums. At the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, visitors can also learn about how fashion design works, from sketch to finished garment.

Piet Mondrian, co-founder of the Dutch De Stijl group, created an icon of modernist painting in 1937 with his composition in red, blue and white. Yves Saint Laurent picked up the pattern but added more blocks of color in green and yellow. Centre Pompidou show the original that inspired the fashion designer, along with the dress.

Jeanloup Sieff portrayed Yves Saint Laurent in 1971. The fashion designer was 35 years old, and ran his own luxury fashion house in Paris with Pierre Bergé, a businessman. His creative designs quickly attracted attention, making him a giant of the fashion world. Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008 at the age of 71.

The unique Paris exhibition project, initiated by the Fondation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent, shows how Yves Saint Laurent designs quoted works of art history. Six museums are participating from January 31 to May 25: Centre Pompidou, Musee d'Art Moderne, Musee du Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Musee Picasso, Musee Yves Saint Laurent.