The Yves Saint Laurent museum exhibit is heading to the Denver Art Museum in March 2012 and luxury hotels such as the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton are leveraging the event to increase guest traffic on the heels of the skiing season.
"Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective" features more than 200 haute couture looks from the designer along with pictures, design sketches and film. The two luxury hotels will debut weekend packages that include VIP tickets to the exhibit.
“Yves Saint Laurent is a luxury brand that aligns well with Four Seasons,” said Dana Berry, director of public relations at Four Seasons Denver, Denver.
“We are thrilled that this exhibit is coming to Denver, the only city so far scheduled in the United States, and we cannot wait to work with the Denver Art Museum on our exciting packages,” she said.
All wrapped up
The Ritz-Carlton Denver will be offering a special Haute Heights package surrounding the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit that is running from March through July next year.
This package also contains two VIP tickets to the exhibit and a special spa treatment.
The Ritz-Carlton spa will be offering four fashion-inspired services and Haute Heights guests will have the option to choose one for free.
Additionally, the guests will be given either a stiletto-shaped chocolate or a special “little black dress” cocktail upon arrival.
Ritz-Carlton did not disclose the price of the package.
Meanwhile, the Four Seasons Denver will also be offering a package surrounding the exhibit, called the “Parisian pampering package.”
The package features two VIP tickets to the exhibit that will allow guests to bypass any lines at the museum and exhibit.
The guests will also receive a $40 credit to be used towards brunch or lunch at the hotel’s Edge restaurant.
Lastly, Four Seasons Denver will give the Parisian package guests a $100 spa credit and a special Yves Saint Laurent beauty sample courtesy of department store chain Neiman Marcus.
Guests of the Four Seasons can also use the hotel’s town car for transportation to the Denver Art Museum.
The Four Seasons Parisian pampering package starts at $395 per night.
“Yves Saint Laurent is a fashion icon that truly had a major influence in the fashion world,” Ms. Berry said. “His styles were very cutting-edge and avant-garde.
“Much like Yves Saint Laurent, Four Seasons Hotel Denver also is very cutting-edge for downtown Denver, offering a very stylish, contemporary hotel product to the marketplace,” she said.
“With the many fashionable guests who will be flocking to Denver for this exhibition, it makes sense for us to partner with the Denver Art Museum and offer an overnight package for those seeking a very stylish stay in the Mile High City.”
Man of the world
The Yves Saint Laurent exhibit started in Paris and is currently in Madrid. Denver is the only city in the United States that will be displaying the exhibit.
The retrospective displays the past 40 years of Yves Saint Laurent’s work including sketches, full outfits and videos that show the designer’s development of style.
The exhibit comprises four sections.
The Gender Revolution section consists of various photo galleries that show how Saint Laurent aimed to break the rules of what women were expected to wear when the designer first started at Christian Dior in 1958.
Another section is dedicated to the designer and his relationship with women and will display the clothes he designed for celebrities such as Catherine Deneuve, Princess Grace of Monaco and Paloma Piccaso.
The Last Ball section will showcase evening dresses from the high days of haute couture displayed on a red carpet.
Finally, the Colors of Yves Saint Laurent part of the exhibit will host an array of samples from his collections along with hundreds of fabric swatches.
The Denver tourist association is hoping that some of the glitz and glamour of the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit will rub off on the city and place it on the map as a fashion and culture hotspot.
“Considering the exhibit has only been seen in Paris and Madrid, two renowned cultural and fashion hotspots, hosting the Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective exhibit at the Denver Art Museum is a major coup for the Mile High City,” said Deborah Park, associate director of communications at the Denver Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Denver.
“Denver is busting at the seams with cultural offerings with the recent Clyfford Still Museum opening, up-and-coming fashion designers and so much more," she said. "The Yves Saint Laurent exhibit is just one more way that the city is showcasing this to the world.”
Final Take
Kayla Hutzler, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York