Yves Saint Laurent YSL Vintage Signature Black Top
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. A little whitish spot on a sleeve (see last photo) - not obstrusive to our opinion. Faint gilt fading on buttons.
- Seller Location:Nice, FR
- Reference Number:
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: French Riviera, France
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- HERMES Vintage Iconic Bolduc Print Silk Shirt BlouseBy HermèsLocated in Nice, FRHERMES Paris vintage iconic Bolduc print silk shirt blouse. This shirt features : - Orange HERMES PARIS Bolduc print featuring white carriages and stitching on a black background. -...Category
20th Century French Blouses and Tops
- JEAN PAUL GAULTIER Vintage 1996 Iconic Green/Red Tribal Tattoo Mesh Shirt Size LBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage 1996 FUZZI green sheer mesh shirt featuring a flocked red tribal tattoo print all-over. Label reads JEAN PA...Category
20th Century French Shirts
- Jean Paul Gaultier Iconic Vintage Red Black Op Art Nude Torso ShirtBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage iconic red and black op art nude torso shirt. Label reads JPG JEAN'S. Made in Italy. Collection N° 0004. Missing composition tag ...Category
20th Century Italian Shirts
- Jean Paul Gaultier Vintage Circuit Print Cyborg Top Size SBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage top featuring a multicolored circuit cyborg print all over. Zip neck. Long sleeves. Cuff snap buttoning. Label reads JPG Paris M...Category
20th Century French T-Shirts
- Vintage Silver Gun Patina Metal Mesh Halter TopLocated in Nice, FRVintage gun patina metal mesh halter top with front slit and grey satin detailing. Slip on. Ties in the neck. Hook and snap closure system in t...Category
20th Century French Halter Tops
- Jean Paul Gaultier Vintage Matelot Sheer Mesh TopBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage black with brick color stripes sheer mesh matelot top with JEAN PAUL GAULTIER cursive signature. Turtle neck collar. Exposed seams. Long sleeves. Label r...Category
20th Century French Shirts
- S/S 1997 Gucci by Tom Ford Leather Sleeveless Top G LogoBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a rare leather tank top by Tom Ford for Gucci. This piece and features the classic Tom Ford 'G' medallion that was heavily featured in the ...Category
1990s Italian Tank Tops
- NWT Late 1990s Gucci by Tom Ford Cashmere Knit Wrap Around Tank BlackBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a black cashmere Gucci wrap-around tank top, designed by Tom Ford. From the late 1990s, this oh-so-soft tank top wraps around the body and features a v-shaped cut at the b...Category
1990s Italian Blouses and Tops
- NWT S/S 2001 Gucci by Tom Ford Runway Black Satin Crossover Bralette TopBy Tom Ford for Gucci, GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a rare black satin Gucci bralette, designed by Tom Ford. From the Spring/Summer 2001 collection, this top debuted on the runway on look 8 mod...Category
Early 2000s Italian Blouses and Tops
- S/S 1997 Gucci by Tom Ford Beige Navy Sheer Ombré Silk Button Up Plunge TopBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a beautiful sheer ombré Gucci shirt, designed by Tom Ford for the Spring/Summer 1997 collection. The button closure stops about halfway up the front for a plunging necklin...Category
1990s Italian Blouses
- F/W 1998 Gucci by Tom Ford Double Buckle Black Knit Wool Cardigan TopBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting an open black knit Gucci cardigan, designed by Tom Ford. From the Fall/Winter 1998 collection, this incredible cardigan features two closures at the front, each marked 'Gucci', which tactfully leave the sweater slightly open. The sweater is made complete with diagonal perforated stripe details at the front. A rare piece of early Gucci...Category
1990s Italian Cardigans
- S/S 1997 Gucci by Tom Ford Navy Sheer Crepe Chiffon Silk Blend Tank TopBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a sensual Gucci tank top, designed by Tom Ford. This uniquely shaped tank top features spaghetti straps with an a-line construction. Not your average tank top, this shirt ...Category
1990s Italian Tank Tops
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.