The International Center of Photography Presents Yves Saint Laurent and Photography

Dominique Issermann, Evening dress from the Fall/Winter 1984 haute couture collection. Published in Vogue, November,1984.© Dominique Issermann © Yves Saint Laurent

The International Center of Photography | 84 Ludlow Street, New York

On View June 11, 2026–September 28, 2026 | Public Opening June 11, 5–8PM

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is excited to present Yves Saint Laurent and Photography, an exhibition that explores how the photographic image became central to the making of the house of Yves Saint Laurent over four decades. Bringing together over 300 objects including photographs by Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Guy Bourdin, Robert Doisneau, Horst P. Horst, William Klein, Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, Duane Michals, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, David Seidner, and Andy Warhol alongside archival materials, the exhibition showcases the wide range of materials produced through these collaborations. Organized in collaboration with the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris and the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent, Yves Saint Laurent and Photography shows how the medium was used not just for promotion, but as a vital element in shaping identity, influence and cultural discourse.

Curated by Simon Baker, Guest Curator and photography historian; Nastasia Alberti, Deputy Head of Collections and Head Archivist, Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris and Clémentine Cuinet, Head of Photographic Collections, Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, Yves Saint Laurent and Photography considers the myriad ways that photographic images can shape the world around us, whether as art, marketing, documentation or the substance of memory. More broadly, the exhibition shows how the legacy of both a brand and its founder was cemented in large part through the photographic image.

Yves Saint Laurent himself maintained an active relationship with countless photographers, viewing the medium as a way to take risks in the fashioning of his identity and in pushing the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable or relevant, specifically with regard to gender roles and expectations. This inquiry is an extension of ICPs longstanding mission to investigate how photography circulates in the world and to look at the history of photography to better understand how the medium can continue to impact contemporary life in urgent and democratic ways, while also demonstrating how fashion has been part of broader social and cultural change through gender presentation, marketing strategies, responses to youth movements and globalization.

Divided into two sections, the first brings together portraits, fashion photographs and more by photographers working in a wide variety of ways, that chronologically trace the evolution of Yves Saint Laurent’s creations and emblematic portraits of the couturier. From the striking portrait of Yves Saint Laurent by Irving Penn in 1957 to that of Patrick Demarchelier in 2004, from experimental images by William Klein in 1962 to those taken by Bettina Rheims backstage at runway shows in the 1980s, each image bears witness to an era. From immediately recognizable images to lesser-known ones, these photographs contributed to Yves Saint Laurent’s worldwide renown and have left a lasting impression on the collective imagination. The second section retraces these same years through the presentation of more than 200 objects from the archives of the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris—contact sheets, advertising notebooks and campaign catalogues, press clippings, magazines and personal photographs—which reveal the central role that photography played in the life of the couturier and in the history of his fashion house. Yves Saint Laurent understood both the documentary power of photography as a tool to preserve something for eternity that might otherwise be ephemeral and its ability to elevate that which it documented. The inclusion of printed matter in Yves Saint Laurent and Photography demonstrates how these images circulated and were presented to the public in varied contexts, while also showing how fashion photography inspired the fashion designer.

Yves Saint Laurent and Photography marks the latest iteration of ICPs engagement with fashion photography throughout the institution’s history. Having always engaged with, exhibited and taught many forms of photography, the breadth and depth of the work on view in the exhibition exemplifies ICPs commitment to telling stories through multifaceted and comprehensive approaches.

Exhibition Support

This exhibition is made possible by the Exhibition Leadership Council, with generous contributions from Charles Burdick, Michael Clinton, Caryl Englander, Renée Harbers Liddell, Almudena Legorreta, Jessica Nagle, Ken Nicholson, Jeffrey and Marjorie Rosen and Stefano Tonchi and by ICP Exhibitions Committee members: Luana Alesio, Deborah Brown, Marnie Gelfman, Almudena Legorreta, Vasant Nayak, Elizabeth Rea, Benita Sakin and Helena Sokoloff.

Exhibitions at ICP are supported, in part, by ICP Board of Trustees, the Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Exhibition Partners

Exhibition organized in collaboration with the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris and the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent. This exhibition was originated by the Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris and co-produced with the Rencontres d’Arles in 2025.

About Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Mathieu-Saint-Laurent (b. 1936, Oran, Algeria) began his career in Paris in 1955 as an assistant to renowned couturier Christian Dior. Following Dior’s sudden death in 1957, Yves Saint Laurent was appointed artistic director of the House of Dior and his designs quickly gained critical acclaim. Dismissed from Dior in 1960 after military service and a subsequent hospitalization for depression, he founded his own couture house in partnership with Pierre Bergé, whom he had met in 1958. The first collection was presented in 1962 and the house became known for reinterpreting traditionally masculine garments like pantsuits and trench coats into bold, feminine looks that redefined the wardrobe of the modern woman.

In 1966, he launched SAINT LAURENT rive gauche, a ready-to-wear line with stores opened internationally. Influenced by different cultures, Yves Saint Laurent’s designs paid tribute to artists including Mondrian, Picasso and Van Gogh and drew inspiration from faraway places––most notably Marrakech. This prolific output spanned thirty years and was the subject of numerous awards and exhibitions across the globe. Yves Saint Laurent retired and closed the couture house in 2002, at which point the newly-formed Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent assumed responsibility for advancing and safeguarding his work. Yves Saint Laurent died at his Paris home on June 1, 2008, at the age of seventy-one.

In 2017, the Foundation was re-envisioned with the opening of two museums in Paris and Marrakech. These institutions preserve and celebrate one of the twentieth century’s most defining creative legacies.

About Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris

The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris, chaired by Madison Cox, is the first museum dedicated to one of the greatest couturiers of the twentieth century to open in the capital of fashion. It opened its doors on October 3, 2017, fifteen years after the closing of the haute couture house and obtained the designation ‘Musée de France.’ It occupies the historic hôtel particulier at 5 Avenue Marceau where for nearly thirty years, from 1974 to 2002, Yves Saint Laurent’s creative genius held sway. The museum’s vast collection includes 12,000 garments, including 8,300 haute couture pieces more than 100,000 graphic artworks, including 55,000 fashion sketches by the couturier and 194,000 photographs comprising of diapositives, negatives and vintage and modern prints, as well as an archive of more than 4,000 magazines and 60,000 documents, including correspondence, audiovisual materials and personal objects, completing the collection. This ensemble is the result of the pioneering and systematic archival work initiated by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The Musée Yves Saint Laurent Paris is temporarily closed for renovations. It is scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2027.

About The International Center of Photography

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Cornell Capa founded ICP in 1974 to champion “concerned photography”—socially and politically minded images that can educate and change the world. Through exhibitions, education programs, community outreach, and public programs, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the power of the image. Since its inception, ICP has presented more than 700 exhibitions, provided thousands of classes, and hosted a wide variety of public programs. ICP launched its new integrated center at 84 Ludlow Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in January 2020. ICP pays respect to the original stewards of this land, the Lenape people, and other Indigenous communities. Visit icp.org to learn more about the museum and its programs