Inside Yves Saint Laurent’s Magical Morocco

When Yves Saint Laurent traveled to Marrakech for the first time in 1966, it was love at first sight. After just one week, the late fashion designer embraced the North African country as his own by purchasing a home, Dar el Hanch (the House of the Serpents) and later two other villas: Dar es Saada and La Villa Oasis.

He regularly returned with his partner, Pierre Bergé, to find inspiration in the ornate details and textured colors of the country’s palatial architecture as well as its vast Atlas Mountains. Those visits produced some of his greatest works, many of which are housed at the newly opened Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech. “Marrakech introduced me to color,” the designer once said. “I am indebted to the country, to the violence of its harmonies, the insolence of its mixtures, the intensity of its inventions.”

A decade after his passing, the designer’s legacy remains palpable throughout the country. Here, we share the best of Yves Saint Laurent’s magical Morocco today.