Yves Saint Laurent, the perfection of style.

Today is International Museum Day and to celebrate, I used my lunch break to visit the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), where they offered free tickets to their newest exhibit highlighting the life and work of the iconic fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent.

To be honest, I knew nothing about Saint Laurent other than the famous YSL logo that has been around for years. What I did learn however, was that he was always into fashion, even as a child. He grew up in Algeria, where during his childhood, he created outfits for paper dolls and modeled them at pretend fashion shows for his family.

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His big break came when he became the assistant to Christian Dior at the House of Dior, and then took over once Dior passed away. The rest, as they say, is history.

Laurent's designs and pieces are totally my style. He loved the color black (as do I) and loved to pair fun and flashy accessories with an all black ensemble.

Although he loved black, he played with color as well. His creations spanned every color in the rainbow and they were dazzling. 

What I appreciated the most about Laurent was that he wasn't afraid to step outside the box and do what others didn't. He broke gender roles by designing tuxedos for women, and he wanted women to choose what to wear themselves, preferring that they do "looks" instead of traditional "outfits" that were popular in the 60s. His designs were awe inspiring, and with every turn I took in the exhibit, I was floored by what I saw.

My next steps are to find some fabric, a dope seamstress in Richmond, and recreate some of these outfits so I can rock them at all the cookouts this summer.