MUSING YSL PART 1

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 Here I wear scarf My little Parisa shirt Zaravintage pants Urban Outfittersglitter shoes Patricia Blanchetbracelets from India and a huge flower Karuna Balloo (make-up credit at the end of the post).

Hello my cats! 

I'd like to tell you another story... It all started when I was a little girl, at the flea market in Place Saint-Michel. My mother, my aunt and my sister were browsing one Sunday morning, when my mother and aunt exclaimed in unison "it's a Saint Laurent"! The Holy Grail: my sister had unearthed a pair of YSL high-waisted pants. I told myself it must be a treasure... YSL, I wondered what that meant... And then it followed me to Wednesday lunchtime on the television set in my grandparents' kitchen, Jean-Pierre Pernaud raving about the embroidery of Van Gogh's sunflowers on the dresses of this Yves Saint Laurent... And it continued on the lawn of the Stade de France with the parade for the World Cup final, with that incredible bird dress worn by such a dapper Carla Bruni... I don't really remember what it felt like, but for me to remember it so well, something must have happened up there... Something like "Wow, when I grow up, I'm going to design bird dresses too...".

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 Here I'm wearing a turban Donia AllegueA dress Dress GalleryVintage pants Urban Outfittersglitter shoes Patricia Blanchetbracelets brought back from India and flowers Karuna Balloo (make-up credit at the end of the post).

And then I arrived in Paris, at Duperré, I'd known for a while what YSL stood for, and during those years, in addition to studying the genius of Monsieur Saint Laurent, I learned what a logotype was, discovered the work of the illustrator, graphic designer and trailblazer Cassandre... In short, studying the work of Saint Laurent is also a way of revising all your Art History. And then, in addition to going to school, I was a stylist's assistant... I put 3 little points on it because it wasn't exactly my dream job, but it allowed me to discover hundreds of designers and touch materials I'd never have suspected existed! And then, in 2008, when I went to Colette for the first time to return from shopping just after a shoot, I got stuck on rue Saint Honoré at the level of the church of Saint Roch, the artists' parish. In the street, there was a giant screen and an army of big black sedans, it was Monsieur Saint Laurent's funeral and I remember standing there watching the ceremony, ultra moved, my blue polka-dot bag between my legs. Life took its course, but all the same, I was shaken by this unexpected posthumous encounter...

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 Here I'm wearing a turban Donia Alleguewith a flower Karuna Ballooa shirt Alain Figaretpants FrenchTrottersvintage necklaces, and bird rings brought back from a trip to Thailand (make-up credit at the end of the post). 

And this continued to make me smile until 2009, one day when I had packed my suitcase and gone to New York to visit my aunt, and she had told me about a screening of a film on the Chanel ateliers at the Alliance Française auditorium. I went along, and the projectionist came in all sheepish; he couldn't find the reel, but suggested we watch a documentary on the work of Monsieur Saint Laurent... Then came the knell for the end of my studies. I had little to do except send out CVs and wait for a miracle to happen. And that miracle came in the form of my roommate, a curly-haired blond angel who came home one night and said "I've met a great guy who works at Saint Laurent and is looking for an assistant, he's the collection coordinator in the men's studio". 

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Here I'm wearing earrings Argumenta turtleneck and pants La Redoute and a flowing trench coat Zara (make-up credit at the end of the post).

I sent in my CV and didn't really hear back until one day... I got a call from the HR director of the house with the fiery letters, while I was with my little mom visiting the huge Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the Grand Palais... This was followed by 2 great interviews and 18 months of madness, learning so much from so many extraordinary people... So all this to tell you that when I received a call from YSL beauté a few months ago, offering me the chance to step into the shoes of Monsieur Saint Laurent's muses, I jumped for joy! The idea was to reinterpret a Loulou de la Falaise and a Betty Catroux 2.0, so it was a feast to imagine today's outfits to pay tribute to these women who had such a tremendous influence on this man's work...

 

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 Here I'm wearing earrings Argumenta shirt Tara Jarmon and pants La Redoute and a jacket Urban Outfitters (make-up credit at the end of the post).

For this shoot, I was lucky enough to work with the YSL beauté team and with talented make-up artist Emilio Benedetti and his sweet assistant Cyrielle Favreau, all captured by Pauline Darley who needs no introduction! Together, we had a lot of fun imagining these two atmospheres, these two characters, as well as the make-up and silhouettes! It was a great time, and we re-shot together the next day in Pauline's studio for the second part of this Muse story! I can't wait to show you the rest! 

Many thanks to Muriel for her trust! And thanks also to La Conserverie for opening its doors to host the "Loulou" set, and to the bar "Le Bonne Nouvelle" for the "Betty" set... 

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Here I'm wearing earrings Argumenta vintage saharienne, (make-up credit at the end of the post).

On my nails:

For my complexion:

 For the eyes :

See you tomorrow, my birds!

To read this post in English, click here!

November 10, 2015
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