French-style chateau to host UK's first Yves Saint Laurent exhibition

The first exhibition in the UK focused on the legendary French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent will kick off on July 11 at the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle (northern England).

"Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal will highlight the diverse influences of Yves Saint Laurent. The show will explore a number of themes, from art, lace and transparency, and Masculine - Feminine as well as featuring the different eras and styles of his creative career," according to the museum and the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent.

From July 11 to October 25, it will bring to light the life and work of the great couturier, who died on June 1, 2008 at his Paris home at the age of 71. 

Pierre Bergé, president of the foundation, said that he was "enthusiastic about the collaboration on the very first exhibition in the UK."

"The Bowes Museum is a natural destination given its exceptional work with fashion and textiles; the museum and its location also clearly reflect Yves Saint Laurent's and my own passion for inspiring, timeless places," he said. 

The Bowes Museum, housed in a French chateau in the north of England, has a rich private art collection of thousands of mainly French pieces, including furniture, paintings, sculptures, ceramics and textiles, covering a variety of styles and periods. 

"It is the perfect setting for us - a museum built as a French chateau, in the age of the Second Empire," said Bergé. 

It is "an innovative exhibition that will create a dialogue between the designer's body of work and The Bowes Museum's collection," said The Bowes Museum's fashion curator Joanna Hashagen. 

The Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, founded in 2004, owns the conservation rights to 5,000 haute couture garments, 15,000 haute couture accessories, and thousands of drawings, photographs and assorted objects related to fashion.