Which artist inspired Yves Saint Laurent's geometric color-block dresses?

Which artist inspired Yves Saint Laurent’s geometric color-block dresses? The answer is Piet Mondrian.

Saint Laurent’s geometric color-block dresses were inspired by Piet Mondrian, the Dutch painter associated with De Stijl and a highly ordered abstract style. The best-known examples appeared in Saint Laurent’s fall-winter 1965 collection, often called the Mondrian Collection or “Homage to Mondrian.”

The dresses translated Mondrian’s visual language into clothing: black grid-like lines separated white areas and blocks of primary red, blue, and yellow. Rather than simply printing a picture onto fabric, couture work joined individually colored pieces into precise constructions, allowing the seams to become part of the design.

The collection is sometimes reduced to a single famous dress, but it included six cocktail dresses influenced by Mondrian’s paintings. Other artists, including Serge Poliakoff and Kazimir Malevich, also influenced the broader collection, yet Mondrian was its leading reference. The designs became widely photographed, copied, and identified with 1960s fashion.