The rue de Babylone residence is a 600-metre duplex with a garden view that Saint Laurent and Bergé moved into in 1970. “[It] was all about redesigning an existing apartment in the Art Deco style,” Grange furnished some details. “The panelling and fireplaces were already in the large salon. I envisioned the library in the style of Coco Chanel—as Yves Saint Laurent wished—as well as the bedroom and dining room. I chose a Baroque style for the dining room in homage to Christian Bérard’s work in Jean Cocteau’s  Beauty and the Beast [1946]. I decorated the bedroom in the Art Deco style Yves Saint Laurent favoured, in ocean tones and with furniture by Jean-Michel Frank. Finally, the entirely wood-panelled library was done in natural shades of blond and bronze, just as in Chanel’s apartment.”

On a visit to Paris, not to be missed is the designer’s Maison de Couture which houses his fashion masterpieces from 1974 to 2002.

Château Gabriel is the couple’s summer house in Normandy. An old textile firm with holes in the roof described Bergé; the place, however, offered a magnificent view. For this property acquired in 1983, Saint Laurent envisioned the world of Marcel Proust and was also designed by Grange. As such, rooms were named after a character in the French poet’s  À La Recherche du Temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). 

Ten minutes away from the château, the couple had a little dacha built. They had just visited Russia and fell in love with its tiny country houses. Grange created an interior reminiscent of the old Russian ballet company Ballets Russes and the Russian artist Léon Bakst.

Friends say Saint Laurent was happiest in Marrakesh, which he first visited in 1966. It was thus no surprise that he and Bergé struck up a residence there in 1974 at Dar Es Saada. A few years later, however, they learnt that a new real-estate project was threatening the nearby Jardin Majorelle, so they bought both the garden and its adjoining villa, which was previously owned by the painter Jacques Majorelle. For the painter’s studio, Bill Willis, who worked with Saint Laurent on this project, created a museum of Islamic art which, in 2011, was converted into a museum of Berber art.

Grange said he “believes this [Marrakech] was Yves’s favourite place”. The designer has been so consumed by his private paradise that, as Grange described, “Yves Saint Laurent is there, without actually being there”.

One aspect of the Moroccan capital that attracted Saint Laurent is its colours. “Marrakech taught me colour,” he once said. “Before Marrakech, everything was black.” Saint Laurent said there is a lot of red, gold and bronze at the Villa Oasis. Just as he liked it because, to him, “Colour is a reflection of the soul.”

Their properties have yet to be razed to the ground and rebuilt. Saint Laurent explained: “… This is because we have old rooms in old buildings that already have a personality. I have had to accept and then dramatise the Twenties décor that already existed. It’s a mishmash, but still, it’s an expression of the times, and probably, a statement about myself.”

And it seems this layering makes the tapestry richer. “Certainly, each house had its story,” added Bergé. “But, in a certain way, as strange as it seems, each house is similar, because we placed a piece of ourselves in each. One recognises that houses need to be loved. Ours were—more than was necessary.”