Yves Saint-Laurent : Transparencies

The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris presents the second chapter in a story begun last summer at the Cité de la dentelle et de la mode in Calais. Transparency, when worn, is rarely integral: it is, in theory, incompatible with the very function of clothing, which is supposed to clothe, conceal or protect the body. Attracted by this contradiction, and by the suggestive power of transparency, Yves Saint Laurent began using materials such as chiffon, lace and tulle in the 1960s. Like a leitmotif, transparency recurs regularly throughout his forty years of creation, sometimes combined with embroidery or opaque fabrics. With audacity, he reconciles antagonisms and allows women to assert their bodies with pride.