Dress Up: Yves Saint Laurent's Influence at OCMA

In the fashion world, we take certain truths for granted. A little black dress, for example, will never go out of style.

The collection of black Yves Saint Laurent cocktail and evening dresses on display at the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa is a testament to the timelessness of these gowns. The wardrobe is part of OCMA’s newest exhibition, Yves Saint Laurent: Line and Expression.

“Everyone knows the little black dress,” said Heidi Zuckerman, executive director and director of OCMA, who wore her own black dress with an off-the-shoulder detail at a preview of the exhibit on June 27. “These things that we take for granted in contemporary culture, it all starts somewhere and it really starts with Yves Saint Laurent.”

While the invention of the little black dress is attributed to Coco Chanel, it is designers like Laurent who perpetuate her legacy.

This kind of meditation on black that’s happening here changes your perspective based on the length of the sleeve, or the lack thereof, or the material or the fit or the amplitude. All of these different gestures are such meaningful gestures that they tell all of these different stories, Zuckerman said. Being able to see them all together is what shows the incredible depth of the designer.

Curated by Olivier Saillard and Gal Mamine, the exhibition Yves Saint Laurent: Line and Expression opened to the public on Wednesday and features a treasure trove of original sketches, photographs, jewelry and haute couture garments from 1963 to 2001 by the iconic designer. In total, 46 looks are on display. The exhibition is organized by Muse Yves Saint Laurent Paris and Muse Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, where Zuckerman first saw the show while on vacation in Morocco.

When I saw it, I thought this show had to come to the Orange County Museum of Art, Zuckerman said.

The local venue is fitting, considering that Yves Saint Laurent was the first luxury brand to set up shop at South Coast Plaza, which is just across the street. It debuted at the retail destination in 1982, a bold move that may have inspired other fashion houses to venture into the Orange County market, helping to make the shopping mecca what it is today.

It is also a good example of the common thread that connects art and fashion.

“Part of the reason I'm particularly interested in this exhibition is that it shows that Yves Saint Laurent was an incredible draftsman. All of his creations begin with drawings, and that's what a lot of sculptors and painters do as well,” Zuckerman said.

The designer’s drawings are said to have inspired Christian Dior to hire him as an assistant in 1955. Saint Laurent’s sketches in black ink or pencil are displayed in modest spiral notebooks, but also framed, some with fabric swatches pinned to their corners. They are all works of art.

Also on display are garment mock-ups of some of the sketches, on artfully posed Schlppi mannequins (on loan from the Bowers Museum), no less, showcasing the slender silhouettes and elegant lines for which the late designer became famous.

The tuxedo-inspired Le Smoking collection is also notable. It illustrates how Saint Laurent gave women menswear-inspired clothing and highlighted another fashion truth: women wear pants. Silk lapels, structured velvet jackets and tailored pants are just a few of the ways Saint Laurent made the tuxedo feminine.

In addition to sketches and couture pieces, there are also jewelry and accessories. Stone and metal necklaces that resemble unearthed volcanic rocks from the spring/summer 1986 collection sit alongside pink glass earrings interwoven with wire details from the spring/summer 1988 collection. Walking through the exhibition is like discovering a fashion magazine in 3D. Each look is a page to turn, each page a work of art to wear.

People look at fashion shows and think the work is more sculpture or performance than wearable art. Part of that is the way bodies fill the clothes, but fashion also emphasizes our individuality, Zuckerman said. That’s one of the things that I think connects fashion to art.

Yves Saint Laurent: Line and Expression is on view at the Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. The exhibition runs through October 27. Admission is free.