At the beginning of Yves Saint Laurent Beauty, there was Yves Saint Laurent. “My weapon is the perspective from which I see my society,” said the couturier. Women, society, the right intuition… It’s all there.
Yves Saint Laurent gives body and soul to a style during a creative career that spans forty years. In a state of torment and grace. A staggering duality that haunts him all his life, underpinning his genius and recognition. Only by immersing ourselves in the thousand lives of Yves Saint Laurent can we fully embrace YSL.
Yves Saint Laurent is a multi-faceted man who sparks off contrasts to better interweave them. He counterbalances extravagance with discipline. Luxury with sobriety. Opulent splendour becomes tinged with excellence. “I have led the fight for elegance and beauty.” This masterful art of the paradox, which characterises the designer’s work, has created, shaped and built YSL Beauty since 1978.
Omedia immersed itself in the history of Yves Saint Laurent and his fashion house to tell the story of beauty through the lens of the man and of couture. Black and Colours, Paris and Elsewhere, Art and the Street, Transgression and Elegance… Rather than following a chronological or product-based approach, the agency adopted a radical editorial line to tell the story of an increasingly avant-garde beauty revealed in paradoxes. This approach brings a new angle to Beauty: understanding a product’s genesis, the choice of an icon, or the focus of a campaign. It is also a way of letting people discover or rediscover Saint Laurent’s history, deeply rooted in that of fashion; from the first fragrance in 1964 to the relaunch of Black Opium in 2018.
As part of this fine work, the agency took up the role of publisher, in particular regarding iconographic sourcing and drafting. It collaborated with YSL brand experts by involving for example the Fondation Pierre Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent and the Institut Français de la Mode.
Récompense : Médaille d’Or du Grand Prix Stratégies du Luxe 2018, catégorie édition, pour YSL Beauté.
Expertises: art direction, editorial line and copywriting, iconographic sourcing, creation and production of the book.
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