Page 10 - PROTAGONIST-123

On these pages, some details from the Majorelle Garden Foundation. The garden started as a palm grove and was subsequently enriched with a
The surrounding vegetation is typical of a Moroccan garden collection of bamboos, cacti, banana trees, and aloe plants

After that first contact with Morocco, which happened the same year he

inaugurated his famous boutique on the Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
became a new man and a new stylist.

The first time he visited Marrakech was in February 1966 with his ings. Majorelle also commissioned architect Paul Sinoir to design
historical partner and right-hand man Pierre Bergé. It was love at a Moroccan Art Deco mansion, Villa Bou Saf, with the artist’s
first sight for him, for them, and the city. studio on the ground floor and his quarters upstairs. In 1932, Ma-
Yves Saint Laurent was already Yves Saint Laurent in ’66. He jorelle had the entire building painted in a color of his own crea-
was Christian Dior’s pupil and heir; alongside Bergé, he created tion: Majorelle Blue, an intense and vibrant shade of blue between
the fashion house that bears his name in 1962, and he revolution- ultramarine and cobalt.
ized the world of fashion with unprecedented style and audacity. Saint Laurent and Bergé first visited the Majorelle Garden in
Still, after that first contact with Morocco, which happened 1966. Its creator had died four years prior in France in the wake of
the same year he inaugurated his famous boutique on the Rive a car accident and the garden was in a state of neglect that didn’t
Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent became a new man and a new stylist. undermine its charm, but deeply saddened the stylist and his part-
Paris increasingly became a place of work for him, while Mar- ner. When the Majorelle Garden risked falling prey to a real estate
rakech was where he could escape, relax, and occasionally also go project in the Eighties, which planned to destroy it and build a
over the top. It was where he could let his hair grow out, wear a large hotel complex on the property, Saint Laurent and Bergé re-
kaftan, and fully enjoy the Swinging Sixties and the more turbu- fused to let it happen. They decided to buy the estate and bring it
lent Seventies. back to its former glory, respecting the original vision of its crea-
For the stylist, Marrakech was above all the place where he tor. To help them execute this plan, they hired the American land-
could search for his creative verve, soaking up the outfits and at- scape gardener Madison Cox, part of the Saint Laurent clan since
mospheres of this magical place, and, more importantly, its colors: the Seventies and possibly one of the stylist’s (and Bergé’s) lovers.
“Morocco taught me color,” he declared. They also bought the villa along with the garden and renamed
Money wasn’t a problem; Saint Laurent and Bergé spent sev- it Villa Oasis. It became their home in Morocco and the place
eral weeks in the luxurious hotel La Mamounia and, at the end of where their heart was.
that first trip of theirs, they bought a house in the medina: Dar el- The rooms of Villa Oasis were decorated by French interior
Hanch, or the “House of the Snake.” designer Jacques Grange, while American architect Bill Willis
Saint Laurent visited Morocco twice a year to design his new took care of the building renovations.
collections. During their stays, Saint Laurent and Bergé invited Yves Saint Laurent was just 71 when he passed away in 2008.
over guests such as Loulou de La Falaise, Andy Warhol, Mick Jag- By his will, he was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the
ger, and organized big parties. They quickly realized they needed rose garden. A memorial was built in the Majorelle Garden to com-
more space so, in 1974, they bought a second larger villa: Dar es memorate him and mark his final resting place.
Saada, the “House of Happiness.” Bergé remained the sole owner of the estate and in 2017 he
Dar es Saada was close to a place that Saint Laurent fell des- married Madison Cox, the very same man who had helped him
perately in love with during his first trip to Morocco, which became bring the place back to life. A few months after losing Bergé to a
a constant source of inspiration for him: the Majorelle Garden. terminal illness, Cox became the president of the Fondation Pierre
Let’s take a step back. In 1919, another Frenchman fell in love Bergé – Yves Saint Laurent and the director of the Saint Laurent
with Marrakech: Orientalist artist Jacques Majorelle, son of the fa- Museums in Paris and Marrakech.
mous ébéniste and designer Louis Majorelle. The Majorelle Garden and Villa Oasis (located on a street that
Aside from painting, Jacques also had a passion for botany. In was renamed Rue Yves Saint Laurent in 2010) belong to the foun-
1922, he purchased a two-acre palm grove just north-west of the dation and are open to visitors from all over the world. What was
medina, he brought several exotic and rare plants from around originally Jacques Majorelle’s art studio was turned into a museum
the world, and created a lush tropical garden that would become a displaying Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s personal collec-
place of beauty and peace, where he could also work on his paint- tion of Berber art.

8 Landscape Protagonist