Yves Saint Laurent Huge Cotton Multi-Leopard with Gray Border Scarf
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2472514123
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: New York, NY
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Multicolor Swirls Within Swirls Silk ScarfLocated in New York, NYThis beautifully whimsical multi-colors of "Swirls within swirls" silk scarf is accented with hand-rolled edges and measures 31 inches by 31 inches. Made in Japan.Category
1980s Japanese Scarves
- Chopard Silk Jacquard Formula Cars Mille Miglia ScarfBy ChopardLocated in New York, NYChopard elegant "Formula Cars" Mille Miglia silk jacquard scarf is accented with hand-rolled golden borders. Scarf measures 33 1/2 inches by 33 1/2 ...Category
1990s Swiss Scarves
- Yves Saint Laurent Steel Gray with Color Block Silk Jacquard ScarfBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in New York, NYYves Saint Laurent signature steel gray with color block silk jacquard scarf accented with hand-rolled edges, measures 34 inches by 34 inches. Made in Italy.Category
1970s Italian Scarves
- Perry Ellis Collection of Paisleys with border silk scarfBy Perry EllisLocated in New York, NYPerry Ellis Silk "Collection of Palseys" is accented with multi-color borders and measures 15 inches by 58 inches. Made in Italy.Category
1980s Italian Scarves
- Missoni Signature Multicolor Zig-Zag Scarf with FringeBy MissoniLocated in New York, NYMissoni signature multi-color zig-zag scarf is accented with fringe and measures 22 inches by 74 inches. Made of 73 percent Merino wool and 27 percent viscose nylon. Woven and...Category
1990s Italian Scarves
- Shakespeare's Stratford Upon Avon ScarfLocated in New York, NYShakespeare's Stratford-Upon-Avon Scarf of Rayon & Silk measures 26 inches by 26 inches. Made in Japan.Category
1970s Japanese Scarves
- Kashmiri Indian Handwoven Charcoal And Green Stripe 100% Cashmere ShawlLocated in New York, NYKashmiri Indian hand woven charcoal and green stripe 100% cashmere shawl with ivory borders. Super luxurious, soft, and lightweight, indescribable as to how wonderful the shawl feels...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Scarves
- Kashmir Hand Woven Variegated Aqua Lavender 100 % Natural Cashmere ShawlLocated in New York, NYLovely soft palette Kashmiri Indian shawl hand woven in variegated aqua, lavender, natural dark and ivory 100% cashmere wool. Falls perfectly across the body, light and warm. This pi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Scarves
- It Snowed When They Came, scarf, design, by Melanie Yazzie, chiffon, blue, pinkBy Melanie YazzieLocated in Santa Fe, NMIt Snowed When They Came scarf design by Melanie Yazzie chiffon contemporary Scarf Melanie Yazzie Native American Navajo chiffon Lightweight and easy care chiffon fabric with digi...Category
2010s American Scarves
- She Stands With Me, by Melanie Yazzie, scarf, wearable art, blue, white, femaleBy Melanie YazzieLocated in Santa Fe, NMShe Stands With Me, scarf, wearable art, blue, white, female, Native American poly crepe de chine. 2 layers that show the design on each side of the scarf Melanie A. Yazzie (Navajo-...Category
2010s American Scarves
- She Stands With Me, by Melanie Yazzie, scarf, wearable art, blue, white, femaleBy Melanie YazzieLocated in Santa Fe, NMShe Stands With Me, scarf, wearable art, blue, white, female, Native American poly crepe de chine. 2 layers that show the design on each side of the scarf Melanie A. Yazzie (Navajo-...Category
2010s American Scarves
- Gucci Accornero silk scarfBy GucciLocated in Rubiera, REGucci silk scarf Designed by Vittorio Accornero - 70s Hand rolled hem cm. 88 x 88 approx. Excellent condition Floral theme with lilacs, roses, lilies of the valley and cyclamens that...Category
1670s Italian Scarves
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.