Yves St Laurent: Between Dagger And Poison: A Fashion Designer's Love Affair With Theatre
Exclusive content for my supporters and most engaged readers
Last week I found myself wandering the — in places — still rubble-strewn streets of Marrakech. (Although it was the ancient souk that was most affected, it was unnerving that some buildings in the Medina where I was staying had collapsed entirely whilst those either side remained unaffected.)
I went there to learn about the food -- there's a special dish they do called a tanjia -- and a 6.9 magnitude earthquake acts as no deterrent to a Yorkshirewoman who has been told she won’t get her money back.
Despite the tourist influx of recent years, much still remains of the magical Arabian Nights city that so bewitched the hippy generation. French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent was just one of the 1960s jet set who established a long-term base in Morocco, retreating to the country with (and sometimes without) his long-time lover and business partner Pierre Berge.
Both men were fascinated by the performance arts and — in gratitude to my most engaged readers — I’ve set up a temporary paywall with exclusive access, behind which I’ve tried to tell the story of their tortured relationship with each other — and their rather more liberating one with ballet, opera and theatre. (You’ll find it below, and if you can see it you’re on the superfan list! Thank you so much for reading, sharing, liking, supporting and commenting on my newsletter.)
It’s a love story as profound, sad, complex and ultimately mysterious as any you’ll find in literature — and the costume designs are fabulous.
Exclusive Content: Between Dagger And Poison: YSL’s Theatrical Imagination
