Introducing – Yves Saint Laurent and Photography

The list of photographic superstars Yves Saint Laurent worked with during his lifetime is impressive even for a legend such as the French fashion designer. From the moment he became artistic director at Christian Dior at the tender age of 21, to the closure of his own fashion house in 2003, talents as notable as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, Guy Bourdin, Cecil Beaton, Paolo Roversi, and Juergen Teller, were among those who helped shaped not only Laurent’s image, but also that of his brands.

So, as you’d expect, our new book, Yves Saint Laurent and Photography, conceived in close collaboration with the YSL Museum in Paris, is a veritable treasure trove of breathtaking images. Perhaps the most famous is the legendary 1971 portrait by Jeanloup Sieff, in which the usually shy couturier posed nude for the launch of his men’s fragrance, Pour Homme. With that particular collaboration, both photographer and fashion designer pushed all the marketing boundaries of the time. Keen-eyed YSL fans will also recognise era-defining images such as Helmut Newton’s picture of a woman wearing a tuxedo, shot on a Parisian street, and the intimate portrait of Yves Saint Laurent on the beach taken by his lifelong partner Pierre Bergé. The book also explores how the photographic medium played a crucial role within the fashion house itself, used to both document and promote the designer’s work. Indeed, the range of imagery in the book is truly astonishing. Yves Saint Laurent’s creations were shot in Paris and beyond, in studios and in natural settings, in colour and in striking black and white. The most beautiful women in the world, from Audrey Hepburn to Catherine Deneuve, from Naomi Campbell to Kate Moss, were photographed modeling Saint Laurent’s creations. In 2020, David Bailey —at the age of eighty-two— said that Saint Laurent was the designer who had had the greatest influence on his career. When models wore Saint Laurent’s creations, Bailey said, they felt “beautiful”, adding that in his opinion, “a woman who is proud and free in the way she moves, is the starting point for a successful image”.

Featuring a diverse selection of both iconic and rarely seen images, together with portraits and archive documents, Yves Saint Laurent and Photography offers a unique visual perspective on this seminal designer’s life and work. Our new book will coincide with a major exhibition at the Arles Photography Festival, in the south of France, this summer (2025).

Take a look at Yves Saint Laurent and Photography in the store.