The Marrakech museum was designed by Studio KO, an architectural firm established by Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier, who have realized numerous projects in Morocco, Europe and the United States. While leafing through the couturier's archives, they were struck by curves running alongside straight lines, and by the succession of delicate and bold forms that characterized the designer's work. The facade of the building appears as an intersection of cubes with a lace-like covering of bricks, creating patterns that recall the weft and warp of fabric. As with the lining of a couture jacket, the interior is radically different: velvety, smooth and radiant.
According to Studio KO: "The Musee Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech combines two worlds that we are very familiar with and that are dear to our hearts: fashion and Morocco. Since the founding of our architectural firm, we have worked in this country that so inspired Yves Saint Laurent. It is with great joy that we have worked on this ambitious project, and contributed to the history and prestige of the most influential fashion designer of the 20th century."
To see the museum is to witness a veritable greatest-hits collection - not just of the Yves Saint Laurent costume inventory, but of the fashion silhouette of the second half of the 20th century.
