This year, Yves Saint Laurent Beauté celebrates ‘50 years of edgy beauty’. To honour the anniversary, eight beautiful new Couture Eye Palettes (R695 each) are now available.
Each of the palettes celebrates an iconic moment, memory or inspiration in the history of the house of Yves Saint Laurent. The design of the palette draws its inspiration from YSL’s infamous ‘Mondrian’ dress that he designed in 1965 as a tribute to the artist.
Locally, Yves Saint Laurent selected eight of South Africa’s top designers and asked them to create a unique fashion piece interpreting one of the iconic palettes.
These gorgeous looks were revealed last week Sunday at the South African Style Awards – an annual celebration of South African style icons. I was lucky enough to be flown up to Johannesburg courtesy of YSL for the event, and even got a front row seat.
Kelli (beauty ed FAIRLADY) & I taking selfies in the front row
While all the designs were GORGEOUS, I have to admit that my favourite design duo, KLUK CGDT produced what I though was the best and edgiest look of the lot. Called ‘Le Smoking’, their inspiration was the Tuxedo Palette No1 – a combination of satin and matte shades of grey, black, charcoal and silver. If ever there was a ‘must-have’ smokey eye palette – this is it. This palette was inspired by YSL’s tuxedo suit.
True to his subversive nature, Yves Saint Laurent constantly challenged the norms of women’s wear. In 1966, when he put a tuxedo in his haute couture collection, it was unthinkable for society women to wear trousers in the evening.
Love these two so much
Malcolm & Christiaan from KLUK CGDT, interpreted the palette by designing a black wool playsuit with a super sexy plunging neckline and tulle bow that falls down the back of the garment. I love how they added their own unique signature to the look with a raven black, feathered coat (they joked about how it’s one of the most expensive items they’ve ever made). I have to say that Tatum Keshwar, with her long legs was the most perfect model for their look.
The day after the awards, we checked out the Yves Saint Laurent Maison in Hyde Park. This small instillation housed some of the brands most iconic make-up as well as old advertising visuals and photographs of YSL himself.
I can’t blog about YSL and not mention two of my favourite products! First up is my favourite foundation, the YSL Teint Touch Eclat.
And then there’s the Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain – once you’ve tried this, there’s no turning back.
While I’m on the subject of Yves Saint Laurent, I thought I’d relay a short (funny) story. Regular readers of my blog know that my mom worked in the beauty industry. At one stage, she worked on the fine fragrance counter at Stuttafords. YSL was one of the fragrance brands she sold. Because of this, I had a lot of fragrance ‘testers’ and YSL’s Paris was my favourite. I wore it ALL THE TIME, even to school.
I must have been in standard 9 at the time, and remember a friend commenting on how incredible my deodorant smelt. I responded with a rather haughty, “I’m not wearing deodorant, this is Paris EDP by YSL – it’s my signature scent.” And now, dear readers, you can understand why I sometimes call myself a ‘fragrance snob’.
