YVES SAINT LAURENT black patent leather DOWNTWON MEDIUM CROCO TOTE Bag
View Similar Items
YVES SAINT LAURENT black patent leather DOWNTWON MEDIUM CROCO TOTE Bag
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Zürich, CH
- Reference Number:Seller: 631231stDibs: LU1380212789182
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.
- HERMES Etain grey Togo leather BIRKIN 35 Tote Bag PalladiumBy HermèsLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Hermès 'Birkin 35' bag in Etain Veau Togo leather. Lined in Chevre (goat skin) with an open pocket against the front and a zipper pocket against the back. Has been car...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Structured Shoulder Bags
- CHRISTIAN DIOR black leather DIORAMA CLASP MEDIUM FLAP Shoulder BagBy Christian DiorLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Christian Dior Diorama Clasp Medium Flap Bag Cruise 16 in black embroidered calfskin with baby pink, white and beige CD logo stitching featuring silver-tone metal chai...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Structured Shoulder Bags
- BOTTEGA VENETA black leather CHAIN POUCH Shoulder BagBy Bottega VenetaLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Bottega Veneta Chain Pouch bag in supple black calfskin leather with a chunky golden chain handle. Opens with a magnetic-...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Structured Shoulder Bags
- HERMES black Maurice leather FLASH Backpack BagBy HermèsLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Hermès Flash backpack in black Taurillon Maurice leather and palladium hardware with side zipper poket. Lined in off-white canvas with one ...Category
2010s French Structured Shoulder Bags
- HERMES blue Nuit Epsom leather VERROU 21 STRAP Shoulder BagBy HermèsLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Hermès Verrou 21 large shoulder bag in Bleu Nuit Veau Epsom (calfskin) featuring Palladium silver-tone hardware. Bag opens with a Palladium pl...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Structured Shoulder Bags
- CELINE blue leather & STRIPE CANVAS 2016 MINI LUGGAGE TOTE BagBy CelineLocated in Zürich, CH100% authentic Céline Mini Luggage in midnight blue calfskin and red, white, black and blue canvas front and back. Resort 2016 collection. Zipper pocket on the front. Opens with a zi...Category
2010s French Structured Shoulder Bags
- Chanel Chocolate Bar CC Quilted LeatherBy ChanelLocated in Palm Beach, FLThis chocolate bar bag is crafted from black leather with Chanel's signature square stitching and has an adjustable leather shoulder strap, protective base studs, a CC logo stitch in...Category
Early 2000s Italian Structured Shoulder Bags
- Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolor Speedy 30 BlackBy Louis VuittonLocated in Palm Beach, FLOn black toile canvas, this Speedy bag has the Louis Vuitton Multicolore logo in 33 vibrant hues. This handbag has rolling handles made of vachetta cowhide leather and polished brass...Category
Early 2000s French Structured Shoulder Bags
- Chanel Vintage Black Quilted Shoulder bagBy ChanelLocated in Palm Beach, FLChanel antique black leather shoulder bag with quilting and gold hardware. The two pockets are both functional and original. It has an inside zip...Category
1990s Italian Shoulder Bags
- Chanel 90's Black Iconic Bucket BagBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLChanel 90's Black Iconic Bucket Bag Color: black, gold Condition: Very Good; minor fading on hardware. please refer to photos. Dimensions: 9" L x 8.5" W ER...Category
1990s French Bucket Bags and Drawstring Bags
- Chanel 2009 Jumbo Maxi Soft Lambskin Leather Classic Flap Shoulder BagBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLChanel Jumbo Maxi Soft Lambskin Leather Classic Flap Shoulder Bag Year: 2008-2009 Gunmetal hardware Black quilted lambskin leather Logo at front with magnetic snap flap closure Si...Category
Early 2000s Italian Structured Shoulder Bags
- Chanel Vintage 90's Mini CC Drawstring Shoulder BagBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLChanel Vintage 90's Mini CC Drawstring Shoulder Bag circa 1995 black leather gold-tone hardware signature stitched interlocking CC logo drawstring fastening leather and chain-link s...Category
1990s Italian Structured Shoulder Bags
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.