The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech was the fruition of an idea that sprang from an immensely popular 2010 exhibition in the Majorelle Garden.
Inside, roughly 1,000 items on display span the illustrious designer’s 40-year-career.
Hot on the heels of a new Paris museum dedicated to fashion giant Yves Saint Laurent, its larger Moroccan counterpart has opened in the enchanting city that so inspired his work. The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech was the fruition of an idea that sprang from an immensely popular 2010 exhibition in the Majorelle Garden next door, which the couturier and his longtime partner Pierre Bergé acquired in 1980. French architecture firm Studio KO looked to the archives of Saint Laurent for inspiration, giving the edifice a balance of curves and straight lines, while acknowledging Marrakech’s vernacular style in the facade of terra-cotta brick. Inside, roughly 1,000 items on display span the illustrious designer’s 40-year-career; the permanent exhibition focuses on 50 of his most iconic looks. Elsewhere in the museum, there’s an auditorium, a library, a bookshop, and a restaurant, not least a dedicated gallery that spotlights up-and-coming talent, with local designer Noureddine Amir set to open a solo show on February 23.
This article originally appeared in the December 2017/January 2018 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Made to Measure”).
