French Students Visit Yves St. Laurent Exhibit

 Every year, students in French 3 have a unit about clothing and fashion vocabulary. This year we were really able to bring this vocabulary to life with the Yves St. Laurent exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

As they prepared for the field trip, students also learned, in French, about Yves St. Laruent: his life, his work, and the way he found inspiration in fine art as well as studying the clothing and fashion vocabulary,

At the museum, students guided themselves through the exhibit along with a packet put together in French. They had to use their knowledge of vocabulary as well as do analysis of some of Yves St. Laurent’s influences. As a homework assignment, students had a short writing assignment based on clothing that they saw in the exhibit. The assignment incorporates vocabulary, adjectives, and the comparative and superlative forms – all things they have been studying in class.

The goal of the trip was to put the vocabulary and grammar into use in a real life context and to incorporate French culture into the class. Regan Falcon, French teacher, also hoped that students left the exhibit thinking about the way artists influence each other and that students felt inspired by the work and will perhaps incorporate some of his ideas into their own expression, whether it is fine art or just the way they dress.

The overwhelming reaction was positive. One student said this was one of the best field trips she had been on! Even students who are not usually into fashion seemed impressed by the beauty and hard work that goes into each garment.

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