French international fashion label Yves Saint Laurent has moved into a palatial manor that houses most of the company’s more than 400-Paris-based employees.
The rue de Bellechasse headquarters was the idea YSL’s President and CEO Francesca Bellettini after she joined YSL from another Kering brand, Bottega Veneta, in 2013. After three years of restoration work, the French fashion house has finally moved into its expansive new headquarters on the French capital’s Left Bank.
The site at 37-39 Rue de Bellechasse dates back to 1671, when it was founded as the Abbaye de Penthemont convent. It was rebuilt in the XVIII century, it was most recently used by the Ministry of French Armed Forces.
Previously YSL’s head office and showrooms were located on Avenue George V.
A grand vestibule at the headquarters is complemented by on-site meeting rooms featuring a few sombre pieces of furniture by Jean-Michel Frank and Alfred Porteneuve. The latter chambers are used normally for the maison’s Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello. Herringbone parquet floors underfoot provide a comforting creak. Vast, sun-strewn spaces throughout the abbey are punctuated by artworks by Daniel Buren and Franz West, as well as tribal pieces from New Zealand and Kenya. Some are on loan from the personal collection of François Pinault, Kering’s founder, the luxury conglomerate that acquired Yves Saint Laurent in 1999.
Others, like a Mapplethorpe, belong to Anthony Vaccarello, and a few, like a pair of illuminated columns, are from the estate of Yves Saint Laurent himself, who passed away in 2008.
Yves Saint Laurent has separate couture salons and Parisian ateliers at the Hôtel de Sénecterre, a 17th-century Parisian town house located at 24 Rue de l’Université.
For further information: https://www.ysl.com/de
