Blind and paralyzed, Pierre sits in his well-appointed Paris apartment attended by Séverine, the bored housewife at the heart of Luis Buñuel’s 1967 classic film . It is arguably ’s best movie and helped establish the career of the French star, who went on to become the country’s leading lady for decades. In the scene, Deneuve wears a little black dress, stylish with its rounded white collar and cuffs.
It was designed by , his iteration of Coco Chanel’s game-changing design that became a staple of women’s . You can now see the dress firsthand in California at , on view at in Costa Mesa through Oct. 27.
“They became friends immediately,” notes Gaël Mamine, co-curator of the show that began at Marrakech’s . “In her movies, he was the one who did all the couture for her. He dressed her in her private life but also for the screen.
” A scintillating sampling from the vast collection of works by the great French couturier, the new exhibit features photographs, jewelry and haute couture garments spanning Saint Laurent’s career from 1963 to 2002. Come for the clothing — featuring 46 looks — and stay for the drawings. His highly evocative line illustrations chart the genesis of his designs.
Drawn with pencil on paper, they capture the essence of his fabric choices — sheer chiffon, shimmering silk, rough tweed and voluptuous velvet. “It’s the first time in a show we have so many sketches from Yves Saint Laurent from the beginning, the ’60s to 2002,.
