Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche black midi skirt
About the Item
- Designer:
- Style:Runway (In the Style Of)
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Annandale, VA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3107222581932
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: Peterborough , United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Roberto Cavalli 2003 chinoiserie silk midi skirtBy Roberto CavalliLocated in Annandale, VARare Roberto Cavalli 2003 chinoiserie silk skirt Red black and gold motifs Size L Elastic band Approx. flat measure mats: Waist 14. 5 inches Length: 26.5 Great vintage condition.Category
Early 2000s Skirts
- Roberto Cavalli 2002 silk mini skirtBy Roberto CavalliLocated in Annandale, VARoberto Cavalli 2002 silk mini skirt Size S Elastic band Great conditionCategory
Early 2000s Skirts
- Roberto Cavalli 2004 crystal maxi gownBy Roberto CavalliLocated in Annandale, VARoberto Cavalli 2004 lilac maxi gown with crystal embellishments Size 38 Gorgeous, rare dress with sexy open back and silk tail that can also b...Category
Early 2000s Italian Maxi Dress
- Roberto Cavalli 2003 black beaded maxi gown dressBy Roberto CavalliLocated in Annandale, VARoberto Cavalli 2003 beaded black gown It’s absolutely breathtaking! Part of my collection and I’m only willing to part with it for the right price No size tag as it was removed ...Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Artico shearling leather long coatLocated in Annandale, VAArtico Italian Luxury shearling and leather full length coat Truly a masterpiece! This is probably the most beautiful coat I’ve even seen. Made extremely well. Definitely not an or...Category
2010s European Coats
- Dolce Gabbana 1992 bustier topBy Dolce & GabbanaLocated in Annandale, VADolce Gabbana rare 1992 bustier top Top size 42 Excellent vintage condition, no rips or stainsCategory
1990s Italian Blouses
- Joseph Belted Sash Black Skirt Size UK LBy JosephLocated in New York, NYThis is a skirt full of delightful surprises. It moves with you. Hidden slits and flaps, wrapped belted waist gives a variety of options for styling. The long sash belt allows for...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Bulgarian Skirts
- VERSACE S/S 1995 Vintage Runway Pleated Silk Mini SkirtBy Gianni Versace, Gianni Versace CoutureLocated in Berlin, BEVERSACE Vintage S/S 1995 Runway Pleated Silk Mini Skirt Brand: Versace Designer: Gianni Versace Collection / Year: Spring Summer 1995 Fabric: Silk Satin Color: Black Size: IT4...Category
1990s Italian A-Line Skirts
- AZZEDINE ALAÏA 1990s Navy Semi-Sheer Mini Skirt LBy Azzedine AlaïaLocated in Berlin, BEAzzedine Alaïa Vintage 1990s Semi-sheer Navy Mini Skirt Brand: Alaïa Designer: Azzedine Alaïa Collection / Year: 1990s Color: Navy Size: L Gorgeous vintage mini skirt by Azzedi...Category
1990s French A-Line Skirts
- AZZEDINE ALAÏA Vintage 1990s Mini Skirt SBy Azzedine AlaïaLocated in Berlin, BEAzzedine Alaïa Vintage 1990s Mini Skirt Brand: Alaïa Designer: Azzedine Alaïa Collection / Year: 1990s Fabric: Viscose / Rayon Color: Black Size: S E...Category
1990s French A-Line Skirts
- JUNYA WATANABE COMME DES GARCONS Leather Pleated SkirtBy Junya Watanabe Comme des GarçonsLocated in Berlin, BEAmazing pleated black leather skirt by Japanese designer Junya Watanabe. The luxurious leather skirt is made form a soft leather - it is fitted at the waistband and pleated at the b...Category
2010s Japanese Pleated Skirts
- Vintage Dior Leather Runway Skirt FW2002By Christian DiorLocated in London, GB✨Vintage Dior Runway Leather Skirt FW 2002 ✨100%leahter ✨Very good conditions ✨Size S-8UK-40ITCategory
Early 2000s Italian Skirts