The exhibition examines photography as a fundamental part of Yves Saint Laurent’s creative universe rather than simply a means of recording finished clothes. Editorial shoots, portraits, Polaroids and archival images reveal how photographers helped turn collections into cultural images capable of travelling far beyond the runway. Across four decades, changing photographic styles also mirror transformations in fashion, sexuality, celebrity and the representation of the body. It is ultimately as much an exhibition about image-making as fashion.

Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008) transformed 20th-century fashion by borrowing from menswear, street culture and art while radically rethinking how women could dress. The photographers around him became collaborators in building one of fashion’s most recognisable visual identities.