Customer Reviews

Yves Saint Laurent Style

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been years since I've written a review on Amazon, but the reviews I've seen for this book have compelled me to write again.

The strengths - and weaknesses - of YSL Style become more apparent when compared to the other recent YSL book from the same publisher (Yves Saint Laurent), which has received more positive reviews. From this point on, I will refer to the two books as "YSL Style" (pink book) and "YSL" (black book).

The quality of the printing and paper for YSL Style is good but not as luxurious as YSL. If your sole criterion for deciding whether to purchase a book is based on its status as an object and collectible, then YSL is the clear choice over YSL Style. If you are more interested in the content, then read on, because the two books serve different purposes.

YSL Style contains a generous number of the designer's drawings, far more than I've seen in any other fashion book. It provides great insight into the creative process and the evolution of ideas not just of Saint Laurent himself but also more generally in the arts and design. In this regard, YSL Style is distinct from most fashion retrospectives, more introverted; the reader peeks into Saint Laurent's sketchbook. The view is of Saint Laurent as an artist, like a painter in working in a studio rather than a figure in the glamorous world of celebrity and commerce.

In many other ways, YSL Style likely falls short of YSL. The latter book shows much more final work, more photographs than drawings. It also better conveys the ways in which Saint Laurent's designs were received, in terms of fashion shows, media coverage, and how people wore his clothes. As a retrospective, YSL provides a 360-degree view, while YSL Style is more focused. Some readers may view this as a limitation of YSL Style. I found the proximity to the very spark of creativity to be exhilarating.

Given the recent death of M. Yves Saint Laurent, one can only hope that this is but the first of many volumes to come devoted to this extraordinary talent. As an introduction to his Haute Couture and Rive Gauche collections this paperback volume is surprisingly jam-packed with good images and copies of his drawings.

For further reading and contemplation of M. Saint Laurent's work, I suggest the following titles, if you can find them. The first, is the exhibition catalogue published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in conjunction with their 1983-84 exhibition. "Yves Saint Laurent", 1983, ASIN: B00188CAQU.

The second, is a beautiful volume entitled "Yves Saint Laurent: Images of Design 1958-1988", 1988, ASIN: B000ON4GCQ

For an insight into M. Saint Laurent's life and the process of Haute Couture, I recommend the marvelous DVD entitled "Yves Saint Laurent - His Life and Times/5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris", released in 2007 and available, as of this writing, here at AMAZON.

Went to see the display at the musuem at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Yves Saint Laurent: Style Then purchased the book. It was a good addition to the sight seeing and gives us great pleasure to review what we had seen.

I agree with Chic Savage's review. The book covering the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1983 (by Saint Laurent and Diana Vreeland) is a more comprehensive overview of the most important and influential years of Saint Laurents' work, however most of the garments featured in this book are NOT in the Met book. Obviously, being a recent publication, you get some more recent designs in YSL Style, but you also get some older designs rarely seen in any of the published YSL books out there. I have not seen the 'Images of Design' book yet, but the Met book and YSL Style complement each other and, when combined, offer good but still not complete visual coverage of the designer's career. So, afterall, I am still glad I own this and the met book.

New books are on the way, so check them out first and flip through them in your local bookstore or library when they become available , if you can, before purchasing on Amazon, perhaps they'll have complete coverage of YSL's career.


Another great book to own is a paperback published in 1987 by the Art gallery of New South Wales (Australia) in conjunction with a travelling YSL exhibiton. This book features many RUNWAY photos paired with small pictures of the original sketches of the designs. Search for Australian sellers on [...] or other sites for the best prices as, understandably, there are many copies about in Australia , so the price is more reasonable than in than the rest of the world.

If you can get hold of a copy of the HARDCOVER edition of the Met book then do so, instead of settling with the softcover which has a less attractive cover, however the content is exactly the same.

If he were not dead I would not have purchased the book. Poorly pagenated, cheap paper and poor printing.

This book fantastic!
Beautiful pictures and drawings of the masterpieces the best coutourier of the 20th century made.
Such an inspirational source, both for the images and the texts.
If you love fashion, you got have it!

I saw this show at the deYoung museum in SF and it was fabulous. Had to have this catalogue. I have loved Yves for years and was lucky enough to attend several fashion shows in San Francisco. He was a desinger like no other. His clothes are as wearable today as they were 20 years ago wish I had more of them.

Wonderful homage to one of haute couture's greatest designers. Well worth the money; my only complaint is that the book is paperback; I would have preferred hardcover as this is a great coffee table book. Beautiful pictures and sketches of some of YSL's famous designs. Love the hot pink cover, too!