Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent & BillyBoy*, Paris

Mr. Yves Saint Laurent and BillyBoy* together in Paris. Mr Saint Laurent was a constant support and friend to BillyBoy*. For BillyBoy*'s world-famous Barbie doll exhibition in early 1984, and for the best-selling book BillyBoy* wrote in 1988 ("Barbie, Her Life and Times", Crown Publishers,New York, 1984) , he wrote the following:

“It was with surprising pleasure, thanks to BillyBoy*, that I discovered my childhood again. For it was by making clothing for my sister’s dolls that it all began. As one can see, my apprenticeship started quite early, and even though I may have learned alot since, I can never forget these privileged moments by the Mediterranean Sea, when I first discovered the secret of an art which was to engage my whole life.
I have never seen dolls since without thinking of that period of my life when I believed that clothes were just part of a wonderful game, with colors and fabrics playing together in endless happiness.
I’ve learned since then how difficult this craft is, because if it gave me many great joys, it also gave me doubts and anguish. I hope with all my heart that these dolls attract today’s children and that they find, through dolls, the road to their vocations.”
-Yves Saint Laurent, 1984

The master designer YSL created a large retrospective of his creations for BillyBoy*'s dolls, starting with the revolutionary Dior trapeze dress and ending with the most recent creations on Iman and for his then-new perfume "Paris" as well as a sumptuous doll's house designed by Jacques Grange.

He also collaborated with BillyBoy* by asking him to lend dresses to various YSL retrospectives all over the world. In all the various books and shows you can read BillyBoy*'s name credited to the ownership of the rare and early YSL creations shown which includes a number of the runway examples of various important trapeze Diors, the Mondrian dress,"Le Smoking"with it's transparent blouse embroidiered by Lesage, and iconic pieces from the Russian, the Chinese and the Serge Poliakoff-inspired collections.

He was a great friend to BB* and encouraged him to create Mdvanii. He offered fabrics for the earliest dolls for which some early prototypes have garments made from these fabrics. "Roussia", the modele created in 1989 by BB* for Mdvanii has a rich red satin blouse made from a gift of such fabric.

They saw each other often, privately and at Parisian parties such as those of Charlotte Aillaud and the Lalannes.

BillyBoy* has always said, "I am eternally grateful for the friendship and encouragement Mr. Saint Laurent always offered me, he was such a gentleman and such a bon-vivant. For me, he was the last of the great couturiers and it was a joy, an honour and a privilege to have known him and to be treated with such kindness by a man of such elegance."

YSL recently was paid homage by BillyBoy* & Lala with a music video featuring Mdvanii video for Lala's song "L'Amour n'a pas de prix" (available through iTunes and all media platforms). In this video you can see the doll's house designed and made by Jacques Grange (inspired by the Parfums Guerlain showrooms designed in the 1930s by Christian Bérard and Jean Michel Frank)and offered to BB* by YSL and Mr Grange.