Yves Saint Laurent: Gallery puts spotlight on 'king of fashion'

Paris, New York and now northern England. Yves Saint Laurent was one of fashion's most chic and inventive designers, and the UK's first major exhibition of his work has opened at the Bowes museum in County Durham.

Dubbed The Saint or The Sun-King of Couture, Saint Laurent was at the pinnacle of the fashion world for five decades.

During his career, he dressed some of the world's most glamorous women, from Grace Kelly to Carla Bruni, in his signature blazers, blouses and tuxedo jackets.

His collection comprises 5,000 outfits, 2,000 pairs of shoes, more than 10,000 pieces of jewellery and hundreds of hats - all of which are preserved at the Fondation Pierre Berge-Yves Saint Laurent in Paris.

And now 50 of those outfits, along with hundreds of accessories, have crossed the Channel as part of a retrospective of his work, entitled Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal.

The show stretches across three rooms and centres on five themes that highlight the designer's influence, creative processes and inspirations - including pieces inspired by artists Georges Braques, Henri Matisse and Vincent Van Gogh.

Among the styles on show is Le Smoking, the first tuxedo trouser suit created for women; a dazzling pink silk dress - shown only once in 1958; and his iconic Mondrian-inspired shift dresses of 1966.

The Bowes Museum, built in the style of a French chateau in the town of Barnard Castle, has a history of hosting fashion exhibitions. In recent years it has shown pieces by the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Prada and Gucci.

For Pierre Berge, the late designer's former lover and business partner, the museum is a "natural destination".

The Bowes Museum opened in 1892

"I feel like I am in France in the middle of a beautiful French collection," he explains.

"The location also clearly reflects Yves Saint Laurent's and my own passion for inspiring, timeless places.

"It is the perfect setting for us - a museum built as a French chateau, in the age of the Second Empire."

Saint Laurent made his name at the age of 17 when Christian Dior made him his assistant. When Dior died three years later, Saint Laurent took over the Dior house.

He met Berge in 1958, and three years later they launched the Yves Saint Laurent Couture House, setting new standards for world fashion by feminising basic shapes of the male wardrobe.

Yves Saint Laurent retired in 2002 after almost 50 years at the top of the fashion business

Saint Laurent was also the first designer to use ethnic minority models on the runway and, in 1983, he became the first living fashion designer to be given a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

"I never wanted to be a businessman," Berge says. "When I met Yves Saint Laurent and he lost his position at Dior, he said, 'Let's start our own label, you and I.' And that's what we did."

After splitting amicably in 1976, Saint Laurent and Berge remained friends and business partners.

At the age of 89, Berge is far from retiring. Following Saint Laurent's death in 2008 at the age of 71, he made it his mission to keep the designer's legacy alive.

By showing Saint Laurent's work around the world, Berge is enjoying being reacquainted with items that he had forgotten.

"Yes I know all the work of Saint Laurent. But yes, every time we have an exhibition there are pieces I hadn't seen in a long time which I get to rediscover. I love that.

"You know Yves has created an enormous amount of items, he was extremely prolific."

The exhibition features around 50 of St Laurent's key outfits

YSL continues to inspire fashion designers around the globe - including milliner Stephen Jones, whose own hat creations were showcased at the Bowes in 2012.

"For me, Yves Saint Lauren created modern fashion", Jones says.

"All that formula of why people wear nowadays - he really invented it. And the idea that clothes can tell a lyrical story - you can put on clothes and they transform you to being in another time or place - was something he really did."

Jones believes Saint Laurent's success was due to the fact his designs echoed the times.

New era

"He really captured Paris when there was a feeling of post-war unrest and the student rebellion in May 1968. He captured the city going between the old world and new world - and put it in clothing," he says.

"Saint Laurent is a symbol of France as much as a policeman's helmet is a symbol of Britain.

"He is really part of French society and they are incredibly proud of it too."

Jones, who has designed hats for Dior, was inspired by Saint Laurent's earlier work at the fashion house and how the designer "put emphasis on hats, making them an essential finishing part of a look".

He explains: "Saint Laurent was king. He was king of world fashion for a very long time and everybody is influenced by him."