Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakesh
Main entrance of the mYSLm
The Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech, stylized mYSLm, is a museum located in Marrakech, Morocco. The museum, which opened in October 2017, is dedicated to the life and work of the renowned fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent. It is the first museum in the world to be dedicated to the designer and features a collection of his garments, sketches, photographs, and other objects related to his life and career. The museum is located in the historic Majorelle Garden, which was purchased by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé in 1980 and restored by them over a period of several years.
The museum covers an area of 4,000 m2. It was designed by Studio KO and built by the Moroccan subsidiary of Bouygues.
It includes an exhibition hall featuring the work of Yves Saint Laurent, in which there are photos, videos, sketches, 30,000 accessories, and over 7,000 garments from Saint Laurent’s personal collections. Another hall is dedicated to Jacques Majorelle, there are temporary exhibition halls, and holds an auditorium with 13 seats. It also has a gift shop and book store, a café-restaurant with a patio, and a research library with over 5,000 volumes including Andalusi works dating back to the 12th century as well as books on botany, Amazigh art, and the work of Yves Saint Laurent
From the exterior, the earth-colored building takes the form of an assemblage of cubes and curves, dressed in a lace of bricks evoking weaves of fabric. The materials are terra cotta, concrete, and terrazzo, with colors allowing the building to blend in with its surroundings. The earth bricks were made from Moroccan earth and produced locally. The terrazzo in front and on the ground floor is an aggregate of stone and local marbles.