Homage to Artists is dedicated to the aesthetics of famous artists, such as Mondrian, Picasso, Braque, Matisse and others, as indications of the designer’s devotion for the arts. The short, straight and abstract Cocktail dress – Homage to Piet Mondrian illustrates Mondrian’s typical primary colors framed in jersey squares, and was presented in the Autumn-Winter 1965 haute couture collection. For the Dress – Homage to Pablo Picasso shown in the Autumn-Winter 1979 haute couture collection, Saint Laurent fuses Cubist and Harlequin motifs in silk velvet and embroidery.

Cocktail dress – Homage to Piet Mondrian, Autumn-Winter 1965 haute couture collection © Yves Saint Laurent © Alexandre Guirkinger

Visitors will be mesmerized by the parade of elegant costumes for the theatre, ballet, musicals and cinema, which were all parts of the designer’s relentless passion. These projects included wardrobe designs for Cyrano de Bergerac (1959), The Marriage of Figaro (1964), The Eagle with Two Heads by Jean Cocteau (1978), and actresses Geneviève Page, Catherine Deneuve, Anny Duperey, and many others.


Sketches for theatre productions, Photo: Alma Reyes

Together with a wall of selected jewelry pieces, display of hats, garment sketches, and his well-favored “Love” greeting card series, the grand exhibition of Yves Saint Laurent’s legend is truly a testimony of his extravagant presence in fashion and the arts.

Cabinet of Curiosities: Jewels, Photo: Alma Reyes

“..For a long time now, I have believed that fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves.” (Yves Saint Laurent, Across the Style exhibition, The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2023) — Yves Saint Laurent, 2002 © Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris

Yves Saint Laurent, Across the Style
Date: September 20th – December 11th, 2023
Opening Hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Fridays and Saturdays till 20:00)
*Last admission 30 minutes before closing
Closed on Tuesdays
Place: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Address: 7-22-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)47 316 2772 (Hello Dial)
https://ysl2023.jp