Beauty Bounty

Morocco, the bohemian kingdom filled with mysexoticism, and caftans, became a place of refuge for young designer Yves Saint Laurent in the late 1960s. “Its architecture, large avenues, and pillared monuments reminded him of primitive Paris,” explains Florence Muller, a fashion historian and curator of many YSL retrospectives.

Saint Laurent drew inspiration from the rich colors that saturated the expanse from Tangier to Marrakech, and they became embodied in his couture collections. In 1980 he purchased the storied Majorelle Garden with the intent of refurbishing it for the people of Marrakech. To this setting, where Saint Laurent felt he could re-invent his youth, friends such as Paul and Talitha Getty, Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Loulou de la Falaise, and interior designer Bill Willis frequently flocked to join the designer, for revelry and unforgettable holidays.

In this same magical place, decades later, YSL Skin Science has made a significant discovery. From the crocus, an indigenous flower symbolic of beauty, sensuality, longevity, and love, it has harvested Moroccan saffron, the world’s “most expensive spice by weight,” according to Chris Kilham, ethnobotanist and medicine-hunter.

For only one week each autumn, the flower’s red pistils (three prongs known as saffron) are extracted by hand one flower at a time. The climate and soil of the High Atlas Mountains near Marrakech help to cultivate the highest-quality saffron in the world.

YSL beauty scientists have deconstructed the saffron pistil to extract glycan (complex sugar), which they have combined with other powerful ingredients to produce Or Rouge (French for “red gold”) in honor of the spice’s nickname. The result is a revitalizing and luxurious skin-care collection designed to combat aging. The aromatic cream, which comes in a gold jar with jeweled accents of red and black, might just become a legend in its own right.

SUNHEE GRINNELL

Beauty

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