Apr 02 2009
YSL SF
Always being a little behind the times, today I finally realized that there were only three days left of the historic 40 year retrospective of Yves St Laurent’s exquisite work at the De Young Museum. Since two of those days are weekend days, the worst possible for visiting museums, I decided to dash across the Bay and pay homage to Monsieur St-Laurent before it was too late.
Driving through San Francisco on this warm, sunny day, with the windows down to let in the air characteristically spiced with eucalyptus and sea salt and listening to a Marvin Gaye* tribute on the radio, I thought how incredibly beautiful the city is. There is nowhere else like it. I was lucky to have lived there for so many years.
Embarrassingly, this was the first time I had visited the De Young since its alleged makeover was completed in 2005. Up close, I didn’t find it any prettier than it is from a distance, and I have to admit I miss the old building. But then, I am change-averse and past-loving.
So it’s not surprising that I liked the 1960s dresses the best, including a little black number Catherine Deneuve wore in Belle de Jour. Several of the dresses on display were made just for Mlle Deneuve, the ageless beauty who was YSL’s muse, as well as International Best Dressed Hall of Famers Jacqueline de Ribes and Lee Radziwill. Others were from the well-stocked closet of native San Franciscan Nan Kempner, the life-long fashionista who famously said, “I spend way more than I should…and way less than I want.”
Me, too.
*The great Marvin Gaye would have been 70 today. He was shot and killed by his father on the day before his 45th birthday. Amazingly, Marvin Sr. only received six years of probation for murdering his own son.