Yves Saint Laurent Drawings Stolen?

OVER 400 personal items belonging to Yves Saint Laurent have been stolen, the designer's long-term partner, Pierre Bergé, claims. The items - including approximately 300 sketches, many of which were erotic, as well as a journal - were allegedly

taken from the Paris apartment he used to share with the fashion legend. 

The portfolio was first obtained by a former partner of Saint Laurent, Fabrice Thomas. The pair were together for two years and split up in the early Nineties, WWD reports today. Although Thomas - who also used to work as a driver for the designer - declined to comment, the works were then acquired by a German businessman, who wishes to remain anonymous. The unidentified owner now wants to either sell or exhibit the collection. Bergé's New York-based solicitor says that a criminal complaint was filed in Paris in November 2011.

"Believe me, it would have been impossible for Yves to have given someone 300 sketches," said Bergé. "Maybe one or two, but 300? Surely not. The point is, they were stolen." 

A spokesperson for the German businessman, Ludwig Geiger, says that he has given Bergé the opportunity to buy the portfolio on numerous occasions - an offer the Frenchman has turned down.

"I expect to find a solution. I am not ready to pay for them. I am not willing to pay for something that was stolen. But I intend to empty every possibility I have to avoid any exhibitions and publication of the sketches."

Geirger strongly refutes allegations the drawings, diary and personal letters were obtained through theft.

"The collection was not stolen," Geiger said. "Pierre Bergé told that story, but it is absolute nonsense. He knows very well it was not stolen. "It's bad theatre, what they do."