Vintage Yves Saint Laurent Straw Hat
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: Small (US)
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Beverly Hills, CA
- Reference Number:
Yves Saint Laurent
French fashion 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, 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, 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: Beverly Hills, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Philip Treacy London Beige Straw and Brown Animal Skin Leather HatBy Philip TreacyLocated in Beverly Hills, CAProduct details: 100% natural fibers. Featuring light beige color straw hat with brown animal skin leather cord like design detail around. Measurements: 22" inner circumference, 7" ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary British Hats
- Mink Red and Navy Hat and Scarf SetLocated in Beverly Hills, CAProduct details: The hat features blue and red mink hat with red silk lining and a matching blue mink scarf. Could be sold separately. Measurements: The hat - 11.5 inches high, 1...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Scarves
- Giampaolo Viozzi Brown and Black Leather Western Ankle Boot, Size 39Located in Beverly Hills, CAProduct details: The boots are made out of brown and black leather. It features silver tone side buckle detail, wide 4” high heel and rear zip...Category
2010s Italian Shoes
- Vintage Jean Pail Gaultier Brown Suede Shoes, Size 11By Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Beverly Hills, CAProduct details: The shoes feature camel/ tan color, open toe with side elastic detail and flat style.Category
Late 20th Century Shoes
- Ann Demeulemeester Camoscio Brown Suede Ankle Boots, Size 38.5By Ann DemeulemeesterLocated in Beverly Hills, CAProduct details: The boots feature an almond toe, an ankle length, a side zip fastening and a mid high block heel. Made in ItalyCategory
2010s Shoes
- Vintage Emanuel Khanh Paris Square SunglassesBy Emmanuelle KhanhLocated in Beverly Hills, CAProduct details: Circa 1970. Featuring clear, black and brown frame with round square brown gradient lens and gold tone EK signature on the sides. Signed Emmanuelle Khanh Paris B. R...Category
1970s French Sunglasses
- ALEXANDER ZOUARI bronze leather copper white green crystal encrusted headbandLocated in Hong Kong, NTALEXANDER ZOUARI bronze leather copper white green crystal encrusted headband Reference: ANWU/A00206 Brand: Alexandre Zouari Designer: Alexandre Zouari Material: Suede Color: Br...Category
2010s Hats
- ALEXANDRE DE PARIS Alexander Zouari LOT OF 4 leather rose fur crystal hair tieLocated in Hong Kong, NTALEXANDRE DE PARIS Alexander Zouari LOT OF 4 leather rose fur crystal hair tie Reference: ANWU/A00196 Brand: Alexandre de Paris Designer: Alexandre Zouari Material: Leather Colo...Category
2010s Hats
- ALEXANDRE DE PARIS Alexander Zouari 5X velvet crystal leather bow hair tie bandLocated in Hong Kong, NTALEXANDRE DE PARIS Alexander Zouari 5X velvet crystal leather bow hair tie band Brand: Alexandre de Paris Designer: Alexandre Zouari Material: Velvet C...Category
2010s French Hats
- ALEXANDER ZOUARI 3X blue green gold crystal jewelled rhinestone knot bow tieLocated in Hong Kong, NTALEXANDER ZOUARI 3X blue green gold crystal jewelled rhinestone knot bow tie Brand: Alexandre Zouari Designer: Alexandre Zouari Material: Suede Color: Multicolour Pattern: Solid Ext...Category
2010s Hats
- Birger Christensen Broadtail and Sable HatBy Birger ChristensenLocated in Alford, MABlack broadtail hat in cap style featuring a deep border of sable in light reddish brown - two luxury furs in one by noted furrier Birger Christensen of Denmark. Size S.Category
Late 20th Century Danish Hats
- 1960s Pink Velvet and Net FascinatorLocated in Alford, MAc.1960 fascinator consisting of a structured pink velvet ring under a coordinating deep net that extends from top of head down front and sides. One si...Category
Mid-20th Century American Hats
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.