l'amour fou

lately, i've been on a roll watching documentaries on the lives of fashion design legends via netflix instant - it all started with valentino and this week continued on with yves saint laurent. 

similar to the valentino documentary, l'amour fou chronicles the life of legendary fashion designer yves saint laurent and his lifetime partner, pierre berges. it was extraordinary to see the similarities in both of these mens' lives - they both had a completely devoted life partner who loved them passionately and took care of every single aspect of life & business for them so that they could concentrate on their creative, artistic genius every moment. the devotion and love between yves & pierre was and still is incredibly inspiring and there is no doubt in my mind that both valentino & yves would never have gotten where they did without the constant support, devotion and assistance of their life partners. one major difference between the two designers was yves intense struggle with lifelong depression, drugs & alcohol and the film explores how this depression affected his daily life.

l'amour fou focuses on yves & pierre's astonishing fine art collection and its liquidation through an historic christie's auction organized by pierre, following yves death. the film takes us back to the early years of yves career as apprentice to christian dior through the opening of his own couture house and the next thirty years of his groundbreaking design style and personal life. yves & pierre began collecting fine art casually and mostly through coincidence and amassed a collection so breathtaking and mind boggling  it's difficult to wrap your head around. the biggest thing i walked away with was the sense that yves came to fashion from a fine art perspective. beyond his mondrian dresses, he had an aesthetic that transcended from fashion to the world to fine art, architecture, interior design and beyond and included influences from every continent and culture in the world and every time period in history. a gorgeous retrospective of an artist's life, work and artistic influences, this film is a must-see for art lovers of any kind. 

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆