MONTREAL - A fashion show months in the making will have an added poignancy as noted Quebec designers unveil creations inspired by the works of the late Yves Saint Laurent.
A Tribute to Yves Saint Laurent is slated to take place Wednesday in Montreal on McGill College Avenue as part of the Festival Mode et Design.
The fashion show will feature creations inspired by Saint Laurent's works made by more than a dozen of the province's top design talents including Michel Desjardins, Renata Morales and Marie Saint Pierre.
The legendary designer died Sunday at his Paris home after a yearlong battle with brain cancer. However, the annual festival and the special tribute show to Saint Laurent, which are open to the public, have been in the works for some six months, said Jean-Francois Daviau, co-president of Sensation Mode, organizers of Festival Mode et Design.
The event coincides with the recent opening of a retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts spanning 40 years of Saint Laurent's haute couture creations. The museum will also be exhibiting the works created for the tribute show, Daviau said.
"For us that's really important because fashion in Canada, it's not seen enough as a cultural element so that's recognition from the institution," he said Monday. "It's a huge step for us, it's really important. We're really proud of this partnership."
Daviau said the decision to honour Saint Laurent's work was intended to recognize his talents and how his craft and creations continue to resonate.
"A piece of clothing is not just somebody that says, 'OK, we're going to do pants.' There is a thinking behind it, and for us, Yves Saint Laurent was a master of his art in this way," he said.
Helmer Joseph, who returned to Montreal four years ago after two decades of work as a high fashion and theatrical costume designer in Paris, describes his Saint Laurent-inspired evening dress featuring a deep decolletage, and bolero with large ballooned sleeves as "very feminine, very elegant and very classic" - traits also embodied in the celebrated designer.
"Saint Laurent is someone who wanted women to be very feminine first, not doing fashion to make a show," he said.
Christian Chenail created what he described as a "long sexy dress in black with gold trimmings."
The designer of the Muse label said he always liked that Saint Laurent kept in mind the things he thought were important and carried them through in his creations.
"(He was) consistent in his way of thinking fashion, and consistent in the work, too, because the work was always high quality and well done, and nice pieces, in fact."
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On The Net:
Festival Mode et Design:
http://www.festivalmodedesign.com/index-en.php
News from �The Canadian Press, 2008
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