Yves Saint Laurent, a dog's life

In the movie Saint Laurentby Bertrand Bonello, released in 2014, the designer's dog, the French bulldog Moujik, dies of an overdose after ingesting his master's drugs. The anecdote is apocryphal, but it speaks of the importance of Moujik in the legend surrounding Yves Saint Laurent.

In the work Yves Saint Laurent and his dogspublished by Norma Editions, Martin Bethenod, independent exhibition curator and former deputy general director of the Bourse de commerce-Collection Pinault, describes the canine passion of the fashion genius, who died in 2008 at the age of 71. The book is the second work in the “Amigos Forever” collection, offering a look at the lives of great artists from the perspective of their relationship with canines.

Besides the famous Moujik, and his three successors bearing his name, there were other dogs. And in particular the Hazel chihuahuas, “the great forgotten ones”, writes Martin Bethenod, who adds that they have “gave rise to a brilliant iconography”. The richly illustrated work shows the tiny dogs in the arms of his friends (François-Marie Banier, Talitha Getty), photographed by Martine Franck or Alice Springs.

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