1953-1954
Paper Dolls

Between 1953 and 1954, Yves Saint Laurent created the haute couture house of his dreams, which he called “Yves Mathieu Saint Laurent Haute Couture Place Vendôme.” He cut out the silhouettes of his favorite models from his mother’s magazines, including Vogue, Jardin des Modes, and Paris Match. He then designed entire wardrobes for them in paper decorated with gouache, ink, and watercolor.

I was secretly cutting up my mother’s dresses to clothe my theater characters, whose costumes I made out of fabric. … I had built a wooden theater and was making sets for the plays being performed in Paris. I was recreating those sets and making the models, figurines that I dressed in fabric. Then I would put them in my theater.

Yves Saint Laurent, De fil en aiguille, dir. David Teboul.