Yves Saint Laurent - Classicism and Transgression - A Talk by Laurent Cotta at the Bata Shoe Museum

Yves Saint Laurent Pant Suits

Laurent Cotta, the fashion historian, curator and genius behind this summer's Madame Gres exhibition in Paris and the 18th Century in Contemporary Fashion at the Grand Trianon in Versailles (among his many other accomplishments) spoke last night at the Bata Shoe Museum about Yves Saint Laurent.

Monsieur Cotta explained how Yves Saint Laurent combined elements of classicism and transgression in his designs for women, reviewing Yves Saint Laurent's career from his early days at Dior through the 1960s and 1970s. This period was a pivotal time in the history of contemporary fashion for women and Saint Laurent led the way. Yves Saint Laurent believed in comfort, ease and elegance for women and was innovative in his designs  - often achieving a heightened degree of femininity through the seemingly paradoxical use of masculine attire like "le smoking" and the pant suit.

I took copious notes as my thesis will be about the radical changes in fashion for women in the 1960s. I also asked Monsieur Cotta what he was working on for next year. Although the Gallera Musee de la Mode et du Costume  is closed for renovations until 2013, he said he was working on an exhibition about the History of Haute Couture and also an exhibition on the private archives of Balenciaga. These exhibitions will be shown at other venues in Paris next summer and I will look forward to seeing them.

But first to Iowa where I will close my speech with a quote from Pierre Berge about fashion and art.

"I don't know if fashion is art, but it needs an artist to make it."

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Madame Gres at the Musee Bourdelle

Madame Gres White Gowns,  Photo by Ingrid Mida 2011

Born Germaine Krebs, the girl who wanted to become a sculptor became the designer Madame Gres and later was nicknamed the "Sphinx of Fashion". Secretive about her private life, her work was her passion and her career spanned half a century from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. Known for her use of  innovative construction techniques, her classically inspired pleated gowns, usually of silk jersey, resemble sculptures from antiquity.

An exhibition of gowns, drawings and photographs of Madame Gres work is currently being shown at the Musee Bourdelle in Paris. I visited the exhibition last week (where I ran into Hamish Bowles again!). I wrote a review of the exhibition for Fashion Projects. Visit Fashion Projects or click here to read my review.

Madame Gres, Couture at Work
March 25 - July 24, 2011
Musee Bourdelle
16 rue Antoine Bourdelle
75015 Paris

Window Shopping in Paris

Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping.

Bo Derek

A lacy confection from Nina Ricci

Valentino Red 2011

A Madame Gres inspired dress at Chloe
  (Watch for my review of the Madame Gres exhibition on Fashion Projects)

A hot pink number at Nina Ricci!

The windows tell a story at Chanel!

One thing I love about window shopping in Paris is that the prices are posted somewhere within the window. One glance and you know immediately whether or not you can afford to venture inside. Sadly, I could not buy anything because the only time I had for shopping was on Sunday when the shops were closed!

Photos by Ingrid Mida 2011