Even though the French designer never visited China, ‘Yves had loved Asian art since seeing the zen temples in Kyoto in the 1960s and collected antique Chinese objets at rue de Babylone,’ writes Alice Rawsthorn in her 1996 biography. He was entranced by its mythology, translating his Oriental daydreams into his seminal 1977 Imperial China-inspired Les Chinoises haute-couture collection, featuring lustrous cone hats, glossy qipao jackets, brocade and tassel embellishments. The collection also launched the maison’s controversially named fragrance Opium. Additionally, it formed the basis of the 2018 ‘Dreams of the Orient’ exhibition at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Paris.
Sketch by Yves Saint Laurent
Tom Ford took the creative reigns of Yves Saint Laurent from 1999-2004. For his final A/W 2004 collection for the maison, he paid tribute to the pagoda-shoulder silhouette of the iconic 1977 collection. His own interpretation of Yves Saint Laurent’s vision of China, Ford’s finale included seductive and satin-saturated forms, slinky qipaos, pagoda-shoulder ‘Le Smoking’ jackets, lucky-red scalloped dresses and fur coats shaved like dragon scales.
Yves Saint Laurent, 1986
INFORMATION
-
Stone Island superfans can pledge their allegiance with this 18ct-gold pinEvoking enamel football pins, the limited-edition badges were created in collaboration with London-based jeweller Bunney to immortalise the streetwear brand’s defining emblem
-
In Susana Vega's wooden fine jewellery, no two pieces are alikeSusana Vega draws on a traditional goldsmithing background for a contemporary jewellery collection in wood
-
‘People were not ready’ for Walter Pfeiffer’s photography in the 1970s; now we can’t get enough‘In Good Company’ at Pinacoteca Agnelli in Italy is the photographer’s first large-scale presentation outside his native Switzerland, featuring 100 works from six decades – we meet
