1975 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Iconic Ruby Silk Velvet Evening Dress
View Similar Items
1975 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Iconic Ruby Silk Velvet Evening Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Length: 57.09 in (145 cm)Bust: 59.06 in (150 cm)Waist: 63 in (160 cm)Hip: 63 in (160 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Paris, FR
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU17522048063
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.
- Oscar de la Renta 1990's Red & Purple Satin & Velvet Color Block Dress-Size 8By Oscar De La RentaLocated in West Palm Beach, FLOscar de la Renta 1990's Red & Purple Color-Block Dress - 8. This dress is in excellent condition and is long sleeved. The top part is velvet and the ...Category
1990s American Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Lilli Diamond 1970s Bright Red Crinkle Crepe Shift with Giant Bow at ShoulderBy Lilli DiamondLocated in San Francisco, CALilli Diamond 1970s bright red shift dress with huge satiny bow at shoulder. Base shift is made of a taffeta like fabric with a crinkly crepe covering, and a second layer of crepe fo...Category
1970s Unknown Cocktail Dresses
- Red satin boléro and bustier evening dress asymmetrical with ruffle Circa 1980'sLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRRed satin boléro and bustier evening dress asymmetrical with ruffle and bow. Rhinestone button on the boléro. Top stitched bustier and waist. Boned. SIZE MCategory
1980s Unknown Evening Dresses and Gowns
- 1960s Helena Barbieri Red Satin and Lace Evening GownBy Helena BarbieriLocated in San Francisco, CA1960s Red duchess stain evening gown with a strapless bodice in a matching red illusion lace. The empire waistline has a red velvet trim and the skirt is entirely faced to give the s...Category
1960s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Silk chiffon evening dress with beadwork and rhinestone André LaugBy André LaugLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRLong silk chiffon evening dress with beads and rhinestone collar. Zip in the middle back. See-through sleeves. Fabric buttons and buttonhole o...Category
1970s Italian Evening Dresses
- Backless red silk chiffon cocktail dress with drape and ruffles Fontana CoutureBy FontanaLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRBackless red silk chiffon cocktail dress with drape and ruffles. Fabric buttons and buttonhole behind the neck. Zip and hook&eye in the middle back. SIZE 46 (It) on the tag but more ...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Cocktail Dresses
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.