Other guests bring flowers, but Yves Saint Laurent gifted the Jardin Majorelle to Marrakesh, the city that adopted him in 1964. Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé bought the electric-blue villa and its garden to preserve the vision of its original owner, landscape painter Jacques Majorelle, and keep it open to the public. Thanks to Marrakshi ethnobotanist Abderrazak Benchaâbane, the garden Majorelle began cultivating in 1924 is now a psychedelic desert mirage of 300 plant species from five continents.
Majorelle’s art-deco studio houses a Berber Art Museum , showcasing the rich panorama of Morocco's indigenous inhabitants in displays of some 600 artefacts, including wood, leather and metalwork, carpets and textiles, musical instruments and a display of traditional dress that makes Star Wars costumery look staid and unimaginative. Best of all is the mirrored, midnight black, octagonal chamber displaying a sumptuous collection of chiselled, filigreed and enamelled jewels that reflect into infinity beneath a starry desert sky.
Exit into the boutique with its handsome coffee-table books and pricey souvenirs: Majorelle blue slippers, perfume, and pillows embroidered with YSL. The cafe offers drinks at high-fashion prices but you can’t argue with the view.
