In the 40 years that Yves Saint Laurent<\/a> helmed his namesake label, the designer took inspiration from art of all kinds: painting, dance, and poetry among them. But Saint Laurent\u2014a renowned collector and a friend to many artists, including Andy Warhol<\/a> and Bernard Buffet\u2014was particularly fond of visual media, with fine art references popping up from the 1960s through to his final couture show in 2002.<\/p>\n Saint Laurent referenced a swathe of artistic movements in his work. Perhaps his most famous is his series of Piet Mondrian<\/a>-inspired dresses, which he sent down his fall 1965 runway. In 1988, he paid homage to a range of artists, from Georges Broque to Vinvent van Gogh, their most recognizable motifs splashed across the bodies of his models. The designer didn\u2019t shy away from any movement: he borrowed Buffet\u2019s severe black geometric lines in his spring 1990 couture collection, and embraced Pierre Bonnard\u2019s colorful Post-Impressionism in 1999. In another instance, he combined his love of art and dance, using Pablo Picasso\u2019s costumes for Sergei Diaghilev\u2019s Ballet Russes production of Parade<\/em> to inspire his harlqeuinesque skirts.<\/p>\n Saint Laurent\u2019s successors shared his fondness for art. In 1999, under Alber Elbaz, Mario Sorrenti photographed a campaign inspired by famous paintings<\/a>; Noot Seear did her best Mona Lisa<\/em> smile, while Kate Moss flipped the script on Luncheon on the Grass.<\/em><\/p>\n This year\u2019s Costume Institute exhibition, \u201cCostume Art<\/a>,\u201d and the accompanying 2026 Met Gala dress code<\/a> \u201cFashion Is Art,\u201d are uniquely concerned with fine art\u2019s intersection with fashion. With Saint Laurent\u2019s current creative director, Anthony Vaccarello<\/a>, serving as a co-chair of the Host Committee<\/a>, perhaps he will use the moment to add to his house\u2019s rich artistic history.<\/p>\n Here, see the artists who inspired Yves Saint Laurent.<\/p>\n Composition with red, yellow, and blue<\/em>, 1921, by Piet Mondrian<\/p>\n <\/span>DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Fall 1965.<\/p>\n <\/span>Photo: Bettmann<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nPiet Mondrian<\/h2>\n
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