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Viewing Yves Saint Laurent through Pierre Boulat’s lens
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One of the photos of French designer Yves Saint Laurent taken by Pierre Boulat. The remaining 48 photos of the designer can be seen at Yves Saint Laurent: The Birth of a Legend exhibition at Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta. (JP/Ni Nyoman Wira)
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n 1961, following his departure from the House of Dior, the late French designer Yves Saint Laurent planned to open his own haute couture house with his partner Pierre Bergé. The moments of preparation for his first solo show were mesmerizingly captured by French photojournalist Pierre Boulat, who spent five weeks taking behind-the-scene photographs.
The legendary photos can be viewed at Plaza Indonesia, Central Jakarta, where they are on display in front of La Moda Café. Entitled "Yves Saint Laurent: The Birth of a Legend," the exhibition lasts until April 8.
Forty-nine photos are on display, including a photo of the designer in an attic belonging to designer Manguin. Among the photos, viewers can also see one of Yves' fitting sessions, a photo with his mother Lucienne Andrée Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, a fashion show rehearsal in 1962 and other iconic photos.
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The exhibition is being held in collaboration with the French Institute in Indonesia, PT L’Oréal Indonesia and Plaza Indonesia. “We’re really proud to present a different point of view in looking at the creations of Yves Saint Laurent to Jakartans,” said France Embassy cultural attaché Christian Gaujac, adding that the photos were previously exhibited in Surabaya, Bandung and Yogyakarta.
Boulat was with Life magazine journalist Nadine Puissesseau when he took the photos of Yves Saint Laurent. He wrote on the Association Pierre et Alexandra Boulat website: “This young man of twenty-six fascinated us. Every morning, we saw a model with a new dress, sublime. We exclaim, but Yves Saint Laurent did not flinch: it was normal.”
Boulat maintained a close relationship with Yves Saint Laurent. He had the rare opportunity to capture the backstage and the designer’s Paris home. After Boulat's death, his daughter Alexandra Boulat continued his work with the designer by capturing Yves Saint Laurent during his final fashion show prior to his retirement in 2002. (asw)
