Sunday Escape - Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Marrakech

In Marrakech opens the Musée Yves Saint Laurent.

Not just a museum, but the celebration of one of the personalities that have marked the history of contemporary fashion, the man who first made to wear trousers for women and created the Mondrian minidress.

This ocher-colored building is the tribute that Pierre Bergé, his partner in life and work, who died on September 8, wanted to pay to the designer.

"When Yves Saint Laurent first discovered Marrakech in 1966" - Bergé said - "he was so moved by the city that he immediately decided to buy a house here, and returned regularly. It feels perfectly natural, 50 years later, to build a museum dedicated to his oeuvre, which was so inspired by this country".

The Moroccan city, in fact, had become for Saint Laurent a special place of rest after periods of hard work, but also of inspiration for future collections.

"I want something strong, Moroccan, contemporary, and, above all, absolutely uncompromising".

These characteristic features that Bergé wanted the Study K.O. to satisfy in the construction of the building which is located right in rue Yves Saint Laurent, two steps from Jardin Majorelle.

"We saw the design of the shoulder pad of Le Smoking" - explained the architects talking about the starting point for the project - "a sketch in black and white, very graphic, very strong, with a conjunction of curves and straight lines".

A soft elegance visible in the facade, in the frame of a square and circular volumes, tall and low, full and empty, layers of materials (terracotta, cement, marble) that recalls the texture of a fabric.

The 4000 square meters of the structure hosting space for permanent and temporary exhibitions, a bookstore, a library of rare books and an auditorium with 130 seats. Also in the basement, there is the conservation department: a special room equipped with a series of hi-tech designs designed to guarantee optimum temperatures to prevent deterioration or damage to clothes, shoes, jewelry, and accessories.

The Musée Yves Saint Laurent will retain the extraordinary collection of the Foundation: a total of 5,000 items, 15,000 accessories and tens of thousands of sketches and objects.