Fez — The Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech Museum will open a new large-scale exhibition titled “Yves Saint Laurent – Onstage” today, offering visitors an in-depth look at a lesser-known yet defining aspect of Yves Saint Laurent’s creative universe: his work for the performing arts.
Running through January 5, 2027, the exhibition focuses on the couturier’s costume and set designs for theater, ballet, and music-hall, tracing a passion that began in his early teens and remained central throughout his career.
Co-curated by designer Stephan Janson and Domitille Éblé, Head of Collections at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, the show presents an expanded and enriched second chapter of an exhibition first presented in Rome in 2024.
A second act with new material
Conceived as an “Act II,” the Marrakech edition goes beyond the earlier presentation, featuring a broader selection of works and several pieces shown to the public for the first time. Drawing on the archives of the Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent Foundation in Paris, as well as international loans, the exhibition highlights the continuous exchange between haute couture and the stage.
Visitors encounter original costume sketches, stage sets, and finished garments created for landmark productions, revealing how Saint Laurent approached performance as a space for movement, character, and transformation rather than simple ornamentation.
Beyond fashion, toward performance
While Yves Saint Laurent is globally recognized for redefining women’s fashion, the exhibition emphasizes his parallel role as a visionary costume designer. His early fascination with theater is illustrated through childhood models of his imagined “Illustrious Theater,” created in Oran.
That early interest later evolved into major collaborations with choreographer Roland Petit and iconic performers such as Zizi Jeanmaire.
From ballet productions like “Cyrano de Bergerac” to music-hall revues at the Olympia and the Casino de Paris, Saint Laurent consistently designed costumes as a second skin. His creations were meant to enhance gesture, rhythm, and stage presence, allowing performers to inhabit their roles fully.
An immersive backstage experience
“Yves Saint Laurent – Onstage” is designed as an immersive journey rather than a static display. The scenography recreates a backstage atmosphere where sketches, textile samples, and completed costumes are shown side by side. This approach allows visitors to follow the creative process from drawing to stage, and to understand how color, fabric, and structure came together to serve performance.
Several costumes were produced by the renowned Karinska workshops, underscoring the craftsmanship behind pieces that were both visually striking and technically adapted to movement. Archival photographs and documents further contextualize the works within their original productions.
A cultural bridge in Marrakech
The exhibition aligns with the broader mission of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech, founded in 2017 near the Jardin Majorelle as a center for preservation, research, and dialogue between fashion and the arts. With “Onstage,” the museum reinforces Marrakech’s role as a key cultural destination connecting Morocco to global artistic histories.
By focusing on performance rather than runway, the exhibition invites audiences to rediscover Yves Saint Laurent not only as a couturier, but as an artist deeply engaged with the living, moving body. It is a reminder that his vision extended well beyond fashion, shaping how elegance, character, and emotion could exist on stage.
