French Fashion Designer Stephan Janson On His Friendship With Yves Saint Laurent

Established in 1989, fashion house Stephan Janson proposes an elegant and timeless spirit of flowing lines, bias cuts, Provençal and Moroccan influences. A harmonious blend of sensuality, simplicity, comfort and sophistication, the garments are constructed from made in Italy fabrics that are masterfully cut to fit every body perfectly. Precious silks, linens, wools, velvets and jacquards constitute the Maison’s exotic and evocative universe, with undeniable influences from the world of art and homages to couturiers Yves Saint Laurent and Kenzo.

Although Milan- and Tangier-based French fashion designer Stephan Janson never worked at the House of Yves Saint Laurent, he learned everything there. His passion for fashion and Yves Saint Laurent dates back to his youth, while admiring a Saint Laurent dress on the cover of a magazine. Fate brought about his initial meeting with Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé when he was a teenager, and they were generous enough to welcome him into their inner circle.

In 2020, Madison Cox, President of the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, asked Janson to be part of the team in charge of the immensely successful “Yves Saint Laurent aux Musées” exhibition in Paris, which opened exactly 60 years after Saint Laurent’s first fashion show on January 29, 1962 at 30bis Rue Spontini, then the headquarters of the prestigious Maison. January 2022 also saw the launch of Janson’s book YSL Lexicon in collaboration with Martina Mondadori, with contributions from numerous creative talents and the words of the late couturier. I sit down with Janson to discuss his first encounter and deep-rooted friendship with Saint Laurent and Bergé.

You were close to Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. What were they really like?

My personal experience is a dream because I dreamed of being a designer since I was very little, and I met them when I was not even 15. I looked older, but I was 14 and a half. And to me, it was incredible because Monsieur Saint Laurent was extremely shy and when we met, he was like stuttering. But Monsieur Bergé was there and right away, we got on. Plus back then, the couture house was on Rue Spontini, and I lived on Rue de la Faisanderie, just behind the couture house. So when he told me do you want to come see a fashion show? I said, “Yes, please.” And we were friends all our lives, but I was lucky because I met them when Monsieur Saint Laurent was still very happy, having such a good time and really enjoying life and all of that. It’s later that his life became more complicated. I think it’s the price of success, like so many designers have to pay that very high price.

What was the reason why you met Yves Saint Laurent when you were 14?

Because my mother had remarried a man who worked in show business, and he was best friends with all the orchestra of the Casino de Paris, where Zizi Jeanmaire was the lead of the show. Zizi Jeanmaire was dressed in her private life and on stage by Saint Laurent, so I went to see the show and all those Saint Laurent costumes and all that. Every Sunday afternoon, I would go to see the Casino de Paris show when I was 14. After seeing me three times, Zizi Jeanmaire said “Who is this guy who is always there on Sunday afternoon? I want to meet him.” So I went there and we became friends. And one Sunday afternoon, I’m there and she asked if I wanted to be a dancer or a singer. I said, “No, I want to be a couturier.” She said, “Come on Wednesday, I will introduce you to Pierre and Yves.” She didn’t know I was that young because I looked older. I met them, and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

So you were still in school?

The funny story is that the first time I received the invitation for the fashion show, all I saw was “Wednesday at 11”, so I had to ask permission from my family not to go to school. They said no. I said, “Please, please please, if I don’t go, they will never invite me again.” My family said I could go. Then Wednesday morning arrived, I left my house and I saw nothing, just like every day, hmm, bizarre. I went up the stairs and the woman at the reception looked at the card I gave her. She said, “Oh, it’s next Wednesday.” I became all red, I was so embarrassed. And then I wondered if I would get another permission to go from my parents. I did and that was magic because until that moment, I had felt of all this was like a fairy tale. When I saw my first fashion show, it was 1972, and I still have chills. I realized how difficult it was because before it was just images. Back then, it was not big shows. You had the girl passing here in front of you. Pierre Bergé saw me at the end and he said, “What happened? You have a strange face.” I said, “Pierre, it’s so difficult.” He said, “OK, you got it.”

Meeting them was really a fairy tale come true for you…

But that’s it. That’s how I fell into it. When my mother told me what haute couture was, I said to myself that this is a dream. She told me the job of a couturier is to make women happy. It was the truth.

Why did Yves Saint Laurent travel to Marrakesh for a fortnight twice a year to design his haute couture collections?

Because he just liked the rhythm of Marrakesh, the light, the noise. He loved to go around on his moped in the souk. He had a very different life back then, and he said it was so restful because there was no telephone and all that. He just drew and drew and drew, listening to music, and he was very, very happy there.

Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé loved Marrakesh so much that they bought several houses there throughout the years.

Yes, they bought the first house, Dar el-Hanch, which was really tiny and lovely, on the outskirts of the city back then. Now it’s completely in the city. Then they bought another house, which is so beautiful, a kind of colonial house called Dar Es Saad, which is next to Villa Oasis, next to Jardin Majorelle. And when they decided to buy Villa Majorelle, I think in 1980, they always wanted to make a public place for Moroccans, but now it’s become international. Their idea was to give Marrakesh a beautiful garden. Villa Mabrouka in Tangier came much later.

Why did Yves Saint Laurent want his ashes to be scattered in Marrakesh instead of in France?

His ashes are now in Jardin Majorelle; there is a little temple. He was never French because he was born in Algeria, but he became the symbol of France. He had French nationality because Algeria was French back then, but like most Parisians, he was a provincial. I mean, Paris is full of provincials, there are more provincials than Parisians. He was very happy that he became a symbol of France, but his heart was under the sun because he was born under the sun and he came to rest under the sun. He was born in Africa and he came back.