A sweeping retrospective of the designer’s 40 years of creativity, Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective features a stunning selection of 200 haute couture garments along with numerous photographs, drawings, and films that illustrate the development of Saint Laurent's style and the historical foundations of his work.

Organized thematically, the presentation melds design and art to explore the full arc of Saint Laurent’s career, from his first days at Dior in 1958 through the splendor of his evening dresses from 2002.

The Denver Art Museum will be the only United States venue for the exhibition.

Flashback: In 1961 Yves Saint Laurent decided to create his couture house. Just under fifty years ago, on 29 January 1962, Yves Saint Laurent unveiled his first haute couture collection.

At the age of 26, he created a cultural shockwave by opening his first haute couture show with a caban jacket and trouser ensemble directly inspired by a fisherman’s pea coat.

"My primary concern has always been respect for my craft, which is not exactly an art, but which depends on an artist for its existence" Yves Saint Laurent

307 haute couture and ready-to-wear pieces of YSL's creations were put on display, spannig the decades from the couturier's debut at Dior in 1958, with the famous “Trapèze” collection, up to the sumptuous evening dresses of 2002.

In 40 years of creation, Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized the female wardrobe by borrowing the tuxedo, the trouser suit and the safari jacket from men's clothing in order to dress women, thereby transferring the symbols of power from one sex to the other. 

Numerous photographs and films illustrate the historical context, the development of Yves Saint Laurent's style and the foundations of his work.

Drawing inspiration from the street (scandal collection 1971), his imaginary travels (Russia, China, India, Spain, Japan, Africa and Morocco) and his dialogue with Art (Mondrian, Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh), Yves Saint Laurent was forever "turning fashion into celebration".

Beyond paying tribute to one of the greatest fashion designers of the 20th century, this exhibition portrays the timeless modernity of Yves Saint Laurent's style, he who said of his profession: "I have always placed respect for this craft above everything else – it is not altogether an art, but it does require an artist for it to exist".

For more information, go to //www.denverartmuseum.org/