Yves Saint Laurent Evening Black Silk Lace Top
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. In good vintage condition (please enlarge images to see all details on photos).
- Seller Location:Paris, FR
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU187221587322
Yves Saint Laurent
French designer Yves Saint Laurent pioneered “cross-design” in fashion, taking inspiration from street trends to modernize haute couture.
Saint Laurent was the first to launch a ready-to-wear label, YSL Rive Gauche Prêt-à-Porter. He was the first couturier to open boutiques for both men and women. Using traditional menswear fabrics and designs for women, Saint Laurent also literally cross-dressed, giving men and women alike chic pant suits, elegant tuxedo jackets and urban safari gear.
By blurring gender-specific design, Saint Laurent empowered individual style while creating a scissor-sharp fashion aesthetic of sensual ease and beauty. Many of his designs are today considered timeless classics. Saint Laurent also consistently used Black models, like Mounia, Iman and Naomi Campbell, and he drew endless inspiration from different ethnicities and cultures, in no small part because of his Algerian roots.
Born to French parents in Oran, Algeria, in 1936, Saint Laurent went to Paris at age 17 to study fashion at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Just two years later, in 1955, his remarkable sketches were shown to Christian Dior, then the world’s reigning couturier, who hired him immediately.
Surprisingly soon thereafter, Dior publicly chose Saint Laurent as his successor, which sadly proved prescient when the fashion legend died unexpectedly, in 1957. A mere slip of a youth, the 21-year-old Saint Laurent was nevertheless up to the challenge. He shook the traditional couture clientele to its core with youthful silhouettes and styles like the A-line trapeze dress that hung with seeming effortlessness from the shoulders, the antithesis of the pinched waists and molded skirts that had been all the rage after the deprivations of World War II.
After a mandated spell in the torturous French military, Saint Laurent suffered a nervous breakdown and was dismissed by Dior in 1962. Out of the ashes rose the Age of Yves. With Pierre Bergé, his then-lover who became his lifelong business partner and friend, the designer founded Yves Saint Laurent YSL to encompass prêt-à-porter, or ready-to-wear. In 1966, they opened the first YSL Rive Gauche women’s boutique in Paris, followed soon thereafter by YSL Rive Gauche for men. Saint Laurent had given birth to a global brand.
His revolutionary Mondrian mini dress from 1965 is a core element of his fashion biography. It is a prime example of how Saint Laurent, an avid art lover and collector, looked to painters, from Goya to Picasso, Ingres to Matisse, for inspiration.
With its pure lines and hues, Mondrian’s ground-breaking 1935 color-block painting Composition C transmutes beautifully into a dress that is highly valued by collectors of contemporary fashion and widely copied commercially to this day. The design is the epitome of Saint Laurent’s aesthetic, requiring a meticulous hand-piecing of each color block so that, despite the body’s curves, the visual plane is as flat as a canvas when the garment is worn. Mondrian’s purity met its match in Saint Laurent.
“I am no longer concerned with sensation and innovation, but with the perfection of my style,” Saint Laurent said four years before retiring, in 2002. After a long period of ill health, he died at his home in Paris on June 1, 2008.
Browse an extraordinary collection of vintage Yves Saint Laurent evening dresses, shirts, handbags and other clothing and accessories today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Paris, France
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Hermes 1990s Byzantine Print Silk ShirtBy HermèsLocated in Paris, FRHermes Byzantine print silk shirt featuring a Byzantine-inspired print, front logo button placket, there’s a cotton-cashmere blend panel in all black. Shirt Circa: 1990s Front: 100%...Category
1990s French Shirts
- Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane Blue Star-Print Denim ShirtBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Paris, FRYSL Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane blue denim shirt featuring a star-print print, a classic collar, long sleeves with press-stud fastening cuffs, two chest flap pockets, Western-style...Category
Early 2000s French Blouses
- Hermes Black silk and Cashmere Polo TopBy HermèsLocated in Paris, FRHermes black silk and cotton & cashmere polo top featuring a black front 100% silk abstract print motive, a classic collar, a front button placket, long sleev...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Blouses
- Hermes Navy Balles de Golf by C Vauzelles Silk ShirtBy HermèsLocated in Paris, FRHermes navy silk shirt "Balles de Golf" by Christiane Vauzelles featuring a navy ground and a golf ball print all over in contrasting ecru, a front button fastening, a straight hem,...Category
1990s French Shirts
- 1961 Chanel Haute Couture Top Vogue and Elle CoversBy ChanelLocated in Paris, FR1961 Very rare Haute Couture Chanel silk top featuring back snap opening, with decorative buttons, a silk lurex ethnic pattern, a silk lining. See atta...Category
1960s French Blouses
- 1990s Yves Saint Laurent YSL Pink Silk Asymmetric Bustier TopBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Paris, FRYves Saint Laurent YSL pink silk asymmetric bustier top featuring an asymmetric front part, inside an attached belt, side zip opening, front pleats details. Circa 1990s Composition: ...Category
1990s French Blouses
- A Chanel Blouse in Printed Silk Numbered 46641 Circa 1970By ChanelLocated in Toulon, FRCirca 1971 France Rare Chanel Haute Couture short blouse in printed silk, probably dating from the end of the Gabrielle Chanel period who died in 1971. Superb silk pekin alternating translucent crepe and satin bands. Print of stylized flowers and Fuschia Rose foliage on a white background in Art Deco style. Nice work of pleats using the horizontal satin bands. Buttoning on the back masked by a tab (buttons, snaps and hooks). Small shawl collar that elegantly ties at the front. Long, slightly puffed sleeves and tabs on the wrists adorned with four Chanel Brass buttons. Cream silk crepe lining and underarm cleanliness protection. Label Chanel woven and handwritten cotton bolduc on the back indicating 4661. All finishing seams are handmade. Note very light halos only...Category
1970s French Blouses and Tops
- Vintage Kenzo 80s Purple Light Blue Silk Crochet One Shoulder Crochet Top BlouseBy Kenzo Jungle, KenzoLocated in San Diego, CAChic vintage 1980s KENZO top from his RARE JUNGLE line! Light blue silk cami with an attached purple / eggplant mesh overlay that covers one side of the bodice. Matching purple lace ...Category
1980s Italian Sleeveless Shirts
- Valentino Couture Vintage Green Silk Bow Blouse With Sheer SleevesBy Valentino CoutureLocated in Portland, ORThis is a luxe silk vintage Valentino Couture green silk blouse with an attached sash style neck tie that can be tied in a knot or bow. This beautifu...Category
1990s European Blouses
- A Jean-Charles de Castelbajac KO & CO Cotton appliqué Blouse Circa 1990By Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean Charle De CastelbajacLocated in Toulon, FRCirca 1990 France Large Blouse in very fine woven orange cotton and applied with a goldfish with gold stitching and silver circles imitating bubbles. Round neck and 3/4 sleeves, a n...Category
1990s French Blouses
- F/W 2000 Gucci by Tom Ford Plunging Gold Lurex Ruffle Disco TopBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a gold lurex Gucci ruffle top, designed by Tom Ford. From the Fall/Winter 2000 collection, this top appeared in black as part of look 9 on Taly...Category
Early 2000s Italian Blouses
- S/S 1999 Gucci by Tom Ford White Psychedelic Floral Button Up Men's ShirtBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a bright men's hippy-inspired floral Gucci button-down, designed by Tom Ford. From the Spring/Summer 1999 "Las Vegas Hippy" collection, this bold psychedelic floral shirt features a front button-down closure and standard collar. This fun print...Category
1990s Italian Blouses
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
How to Spot a Fake YSL Bag
Counterfeiters know that savvy fashionistas cherish YSL bags. Learn how to tell if yours is the real deal. Of course, you don't have to worry about that on 1stDibs, where every seller is highly vetted.
Quiet Luxury May Be Trending, but These Famous Interiors Prove That Quality and Quirk Endure
Because truly timeless design requires personal vision, transcendent taste, real fortitude and top-notch objects, even if the wider world hasn’t caught on yet.