View of the entrance of the new Yves Saint Laurent museum in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh

Yves Saint Laurent museum in Marrakesh will open its doors to the public in October, showcasing a fusion of Moroccan traditions and contemporary flair inspired by Yves Saint Laurent, the father of Haute Couture.

Following Saint Laurent first arrival in Marrakesh in 1960, he was moved by the city’s relaxed and vibrant atmosphere overlooking the Atlas Mountains that he decided to buy a villa there.

“Marrakesh was a place of inspiration for Yves Saint Laurent,” said director Bjorn Dahlstrom as he surveyed the last touches being made.

Dedicated to Saint Laurent, the museum took about three years to come into fruition. Housed in a contemporary building of rose ochre brick and exuding the traditional touches of the Moroccan culture, the museum also took inspiration that influenced Saint Laurent and his ground-breaking modernity.

A view inside the new Yves Saint Laurent museum

The new Saint Laurent Museum is housing a collection of fashion projects such as a wall of photographs retracing reclusive Saint Laurent’s life and career, and iconic creations featuring the black “Le Smoking” tuxedo to the Mondrian dress, in which the museum hopes to attract some 300,000 visitors within the first year of its opening.

There is also the Hippy draw where Saint Laurent said he “discovered colour” in the city from the traditional dress of the women, including works “from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to beat poet Allen Ginsberg – attracted by the bohemian freedoms and drug-fuelled party scene.”

Funded from the sales money from YSL and Berge’s art collection, displays orientalist paintings from the late Jacques Majorelle and works by current artists from Morocco and the Middle East.