Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris presents - The Flowers of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé held a deep, enduring admiration for nature, especially flowers, which were woven into the fabric of their lives and homes. This devotion to floral beauty was a signature feature in every space they inhabited—from their private residences to Saint Laurent’s fashion atelier.

Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris 
Photo by Lucia Carpio

Currently on display at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris until May 2025, The Flowers of Yves Saint Laurent, curated by Olivier Saillard and Gaël Mamine, pays tribute to this passion. The exhibition creates a dialogue with the writings of one of Saint Laurent’s favorite authors, Marcel Proust, alongside works by American artist Sam Falls. This exhibition follows the opening show at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, on view from March 2, 2024, to January 5, 2025. For the first time, both museums have co-presented a joint exhibition dedicated to one of the designer’s most beloved themes.

Saint Laurent’s love of flowers was a limitless source of inspiration, linking him to artists and writers, notably Proust, as he revealed in L'Egoïste magazine in 1987. A “Proustian universe” infused both his interiors and runway shows, as Proust likened women to flowers, while Saint Laurent paid homage to them, adorning his designs with blossoms.

More than thirty garments and drawings highlight this natural and literary symbiosis in Saint Laurent’s work. Like a book with chapters, each section of the exhibition presents Proust quotes beside Saint Laurent’s flower-inspired silhouettes, with accessories and drawings arranged on pedestals. Walking through the exhibition, one encounters flowers at every turn, reflecting Saint Laurent’s personal tastes—from the lily of the valley, so beloved by Christian Dior, to his YSL monogram resembling a lily, to roses symbolizing love, bougainvillea from Morocco, and wheat, a symbol of luck and triumph.

Through these iconic garments, visitors can see the artistry Saint Laurent used to capture floral beauty, from his early embroidered 1962 spring-summer dress to the vibrant prints of his 2001 spring-summer collection, which pay homage to the painter Pierre Bonnard.

 Flowers was often a motif in Saint Laurent's work, as seen here in his designs featured in a previous exhibition named Gold at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris. 
Photo by Lucia Carpio

For Saint Laurent and Bergé, flowers were more than decorative; they represented vitality, elegance, and beauty. Their affinity for gardens and floral arrangements shaped their environments into lush, living works of art, mirroring their philosophy of life—surrounded by beauty, art, and nature.