S/S 2001 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford Tulle Overlay Mesh Strapless Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: FR36 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Light wear from age and use throughout.
- Seller Location:West Hollywood, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2388215647252
Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent
No one understands sex appeal quite like Tom Ford. When Gucci acquired Yves Saint Laurent in 1999, the Texas-born fashion designer had been Gucci’s creative director for several years and was also named creative director for YSL. Ford designed YSL’s ready-to-wear collection, and his vintage evening dresses, shirts, skirts and other garments for the maison are particularly popular today.
An avowed perfectionist from an early age, Ford was rearranging furniture at the age of six and offering his mother advice on her hair and shoes. The designer, author, film director and chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) is one of the most successful people working in fashion today.
Born in Austin, Ford grew up in the suburbs of Houston and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He briefly attended New York University, where he studied art history before dropping out to pursue acting. He became a regular at Studio 54, with its decadent nightlife later informing his high-octane fashion. He studied architecture at Parsons School of Design before shifting his focus to fashion and spending time at the Parsons Paris campus, graduating in 1985. The rest of the decade he worked for designers Perry Ellis and Cathy Hardwick. In 1990, Gucci’s creative director Dawn Mello hired him as a womens-wear designer.
At the time, the Italian label was better known for leather goods than luxury fashion. It was also nearly bankrupt. After Mello left in 1994, following a Bahrain-based investment group becoming Gucci’s majority shareholder, Ford was named creative director. He soon infused the brand with a fresh sensuality and bold style. His fall 1995 show, in which Kate Moss walked down the runway in an unbuttoned satin shirt, velvet hip-huggers and tousled hair, heralded an exciting, glammed-up era for the once fusty brand. Vogue critic Sarah Mower called it “one of those hitting-in-the-solar-plexus moments.”
As Ford shot to fame, he continued to explore plunging necklines, such as in the black and white looks of the Fall 1996 collection, and sumptuous fabrics like leather and tweed, with the Fall 2000 ready-to-wear collection ranging from sultry silk evening dresses to plush belted coats. He also cranked up the seduction in the provocative ads for the fashion house, particularly with regard to campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, which Gucci acquired in 1999. Gucci's Fall/Winter 1997 campaign featured Carolyn Murphy grasping Angela Lindvall in what looked like a video still; in another shot, a face pressed against a foot in a lipstick-red heel. Each promoted a vision of modern fashion where women were sexually confident, the materials were luxurious and the styles were fearless.
In 2004, Ford and Gucci president Domenico De Sole left the company after failing to agree on the renewal of their contracts. In 2006, with De Sole as chairman, Ford launched his wildly successful eponymous menswear label. The brand has expanded into womens wear, beauty, accessories — vintage Tom Ford handbags are universally adored by celebrities and collectors alike — as well as eyewear and fragrance, with the unisex Black Orchid introduced in 2006. Ford broke into film directing with the critically acclaimed A Single Man in 2009 and Nocturnal Animals in 2016, continuing to blur the boundaries between fashion and culture.
Find vintage Tom Ford YSL day dresses, handbags and other clothing and accessories now on 1stDibs.
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
Visionary French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent was the first to launch a ready-to-wear label, YSL Rive Gauche Prêt-à-Porter. The inaugural Rive Gauche boutique — a modern shop in Paris’s bustling, bohemian Left Bank district — offered stylish garments and accessories that were intended to be affordable for a younger generation of fashion enthusiasts. The store featured Mies van der Rohe chairs and played host to actor Catherine Deneuve during its grand opening.
Saint Laurent pioneered “cross-design” in fashion, taking inspiration from street trends to modernize haute couture. He was the first couturier to open boutiques for both men and women. Using traditional menswear fabrics and designs for women, he also literally cross-dressed, giving men and women alike chic pant suits, elegant tuxedo jackets and urban safari gear. By blurring gender-specific design, he 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 — Rive Gauche is French for “left bank” — followed soon thereafter by YSL Rive Gauche for men. Ready-to-wear materialized during a period of dynamic transformation and experimentation and came to dominate the Paris fashion scene. 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.
The vintage YSL Rive Gauche clothing for sale on 1stDibs includes evening dresses and gowns, jackets, shoes, handbags and other items.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: West Hollywood, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- F/W 1977 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture 'Les Chinoises' Documented Dress SetBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a well-documented piece of fashion history expertly crafted by a master couturier in his prime. Yves Saint Laurent designed this dress for his infamous and brand-defining 'Les Chinoises,' or 'Opium Couture,' collection. A version of this Cheongsam-inspired belted dress set debuted on the Fall/Winter 1977 Haute Couture runway in July 1977 and appears in Saint Laurent's original archival sketches, held by the YSL Museum in Marrakesh. This collection corresponded with the release of YSL's infamous Opium fragrance and featured the designer's dreamy interpretation of historical Chinese style elements. Marino Schiano, one of YSL's muses, wore a similar set to the "Yves Saint Laurent Presents Opium Perfume...Category
1970s French Evening Dresses
- NWT F/W 2002 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford Runway Sheer Lace DressBy Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Tom Ford for Yves Saint LaurentLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a gorgeous black lace Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche dress, designed by Tom Ford. From the Fall/Winter 2002 collection, this dress debuted on the season's runway as look 3...Category
Early 2000s French Cocktail Dresses
- F/W 1997 Gucci by Tom Ford Runway G Buckle V-Neck Wrap Leather Belt DressBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a gorgeous black Gucci wrap dress, designed by Tom Ford. From the Fall/Winter 1997 collection, this piece debuted on the season's runway and was also worn by Kylie Minogue for an editorial in the September issue of ID magazine, photographed by Mark Mattock. This well-documented dress...Category
1990s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- 1990s Bill Blass Couture Black Bow Sleeveless Cocktail DressBy Bill BlassLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting an elegant vintage Bill Blass little black dress. From the 1990s, this elegant dress features a v-neckline lined in lace, a bow that wraps around the waist, and concealed ...Category
1990s American Cocktail Dresses
- F/W 1991 Valentino Garavani Runway Ruched Sheer Chiffon Brown Velvet DressBy Valentino Garavani, ValentinoLocated in West Hollywood, CATheRealList presents: a chocolate brown velvet and sheer Valentino Garavani dress. From the Fall/Winter 1991 collection, this chic and sexy dress debuted on the season's runway modeled by Yasmeen Ghauri...Category
1990s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- 2000s Dolce & Gabbana Black Stretch Denim Bodycon Pin-Up DressBy Dolce & GabbanaLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a beautiful dark denim bodycon Dolce and Gabbana pin-up dress. From the late 90s / early 2000s, this gorgeous dress is constructed of dark faux denim and features a square...Category
Early 2000s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- 1990s Moschino Couture It's All So Simple Black Sleeveless Shift DressBy MoschinoLocated in San Francisco, CAVintage 1990s Moschino Couture black and white sleeveless sheath dress with "It's all so simple" embroidery at front. Back zip. 52% acetate, 48% rayon. Fully lined in 60% acetate, ...Category
1990s Italian Casual Dresses
- Ossie Clark angel-sleeve drawstring dress with print by Celia Birtwell, ss 1971By Ossie ClarkLocated in London, GB▪ Ossie Clark angel-sleeve dress ▪ 'Busy Lizzie' floral print by Celia Birtwell ▪ Pink and green with black ground ▪ Loose fit ▪ Drawstring fastening a...Category
1970s British Day Dresses
- 1980s Rifat Ozbek Sz 8 Black White Leopard Print Coin Embellished Mermaid DressBy Ozbek, Rifat ÖzbekLocated in San Diego, CASexy and rare vintage late 80s RIFAT FUTURE OZBEK bodycon mermaid black crepe rayon dress! Features white embroidery down the front. Gold brass coins embellished at the gold threaded...Category
1990s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- Karl Lagerfeld 1990s Black Avant Garde Vintage 90s Sash Zipper Mini DressBy Karl LagerfeldLocated in San Diego, CASexy vintage KARL LAGERFELD early 90s black rayon mini dress ! Features a tailored bodice with a flirty skater like skirt. Full metal zipper up the front with hook-and-eye closure at...Category
1990s French Cocktail Dresses
- Christian Dior by John Galliano Collector Asymmetric Leather Bondage DressBy Christian Dior, John Galliano for Christian DiorLocated in Los Angeles, CAJohn Galliano's 2000 collection for the House of Dior eighteenth-century inspired asymmetrically cut dress fashioned of black soft lambskin leather. Dress features a gathered pulle...Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses
- F/2015 L#16 VERSUS VERSACE+ANTHONY V.ASYMMETRIC BLACK DRESS w/DEEP V-NECK 38 - 2By VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVERSACE VERSUS + Anthony Vaccarello PR-sample Collection Fall 2015 Look #16 Black dress For a seductive LBD that packs a punch, turn to Versus Versace. This dress has sleevel...Category
2010s Italian Cocktail Dresses