Last night, I spent a well-worth-it 2 hours and 45 minutes (give or take) watching Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times. Fashion documentaries are definitely a weakness of mine, and this one was marvelous. I love being able to see Msr. Saint Laurent at work in his atelier, and to hear him speak about clothes. What was intriguing was how soft-spoken the young Msr. Saint Laurent was, when his work was so assured and beautiful. His way of thinking about clothes isn’t one that I normally think about when I got dressed (I’m rarely concerned with looking “chic” or put-together), but his vision is so inspiring, it’s hard not to be affected by his way of looking at clothes. His designs had a pureness of form (pureness not in a minimalist, “simple” way, but one of instinct) that isn’t common in clothes today. His clothes didn’t push boundaries the way designers are pushing boundaries today (by distorting and changing our perceptions and conceptions of the body, by distorting shapes and ideas), it was more of just a beautifully unique and joyful celebration of clothing and creativity. It’s hard to imagine how he created clothes that were so joyful and had so much spirit (he thought that fashion up until then was to somber, too serious) when he suffered so much personally.
But of course, it’s not hard to convince most people of his skill; he’s one of the most celebrated designers of all time. What I loved most about hearing him speak and seeing him work is that it makes me think about clothes just a little differently, it planted little seeds of ideas in my mind, reminded me of different ways to look at clothes. I’m excited to see how I can take this bit of inspiration and apply it to my way of thinking about fashion.