1970s Yves St Laurent YSL unlined flowing cape
View Similar Items
1970s Yves St Laurent YSL unlined flowing cape
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: OS (US)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Material Notes:Wool
- Condition:excellent wearable condition.
- Seller Location:West Palm Beach, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU130224284479
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.
- Vintage Yeohlee Black Textured Double Face Wool Wrap Coat 1990sLocated in West Palm Beach, FLYeohlee black textured double face wool wrap coat from the 1990s. Unlined coat with an angled shape neckline, wrap coat with self belt. Long sleeves have horizontal stitching mid way...Category
1990s American Overcoats
- Adolfo Green Silk Textured Nylon Snakeskin Print Rain Coat 1980sBy AdolfoLocated in West Palm Beach, FLAdolfo green silk textured nylon snakeskin print print rain coat from the 1980s. Hidden button front placket closure coat, with narrow collar, shirred shoulder seams, peaked shoulder...Category
20th Century American Raincoats
$360 Sale Price20% Off - Adele Simpson 1960s Navy & White Wool Plaid Wrap CoatBy Adele SimpsonLocated in West Palm Beach, FLAdele Simpson 1960s navy blue & white wool plaid wrap coat. Stylish, well made coat that will get you complements where ever you go. The woven plaid design is perfectly matched throu...Category
1960s American Coats
$476 Sale Price20% Off - Giorgio Armani Black Wool CoatBy Giorgio ArmaniLocated in West Palm Beach, FLGiorgio Armani black wool double breasted belted coat with deep collar and hit front top stitched patch pockets. This beautiful coat has a self belt, the coat can be worn without the...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Coats
- Style Paris Navy Blue Silk Evening CoatBy Style ParisLocated in West Palm Beach, FLStyle Paris navy blue silk evening coat. Style Paris is a luxury women’s wear brand available exclusively at their boutiques in Palm Beach, New York. Their collection remains entirely made in France, where their Atelier also produces for companies including Hermes, Balenciaga, Chloe, and Louis Vuitton. This beautiful and classic coat is made from a lustrous mid weight silk, double breasted, it has a deep notched collar, decorative buttons close with hidden covered snaps. Princess seamed coat...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Coats and Outerwear
$410 Sale Price31% Off - Pauline Trigere Grey Flecked Wool Princess Coat 1950sBy Pauline TrigèreLocated in West Palm Beach, FLPauline Trigere grey flecked wool princess coat from the 1950s. Dark charcoal grey flecked wool coat with wide shaped lapels closes at the waist wit...Category
1950s American Coats
- Tom Ford for Gucci F/W 2002 Black Silk Chevron Kimono Coat with Obi Belt It. 40By Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in Montgomery, TXTom Ford for Gucci Black Silk Kimono Coat F/W 2002 Gothic Collection IT size 40 (will fit other sizes because of style) Color - Black, 100% Silk, Chev...Category
Early 2000s Italian Coats
- Nina Ricci Grey Wool Knit Cocoon Coat, c.1970sBy Nina RicciLocated in New York, NYNina Ricci Grey Wool Knit Cocoon Coat, c.1970s 1970s Nina Ricci Grey Cocoon Coat featuring boat neckline collar and tapered Raglan sleeves. Three wooden button closure at center fron...Category
1970s French Cocoon Coats
- 1980S Black & Blue Poly/Lycra Mesh "Madonna" Bodycon RomperLocated in New York, NY1980S Black & Blue Poly/Lycra Mesh "Madonna" Bodycon RomperCategory
1980s Car Coats
- Vintage Grey Wool Cape with Pearl and Rhinestone AccentsLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis cape is composed of a grey wool. The cape is a vintage design with a modern twist, the pearl and rhinestone beading at the pockets are a modern addition by 'Vutique'. The cloak...Category
20th Century Unknown Capes
- Valentino Glen Plaid CoatBy ValentinoLocated in Alford, MA1980s brown glen plaid coat by Valentino featuring a collarless, open front, shoulder pads, soft shoulder pleats in front, and an inverted pleat in back.Category
1980s Italian Coats and Outerwear
- CHANEL black leather leather COSMOPOLITE Cape Jacket 36 XSBy ChanelLocated in Zürich, CHChanel cpae in black calf skin with velvet trims in black rayon (98%) and silk (2%). Features a notched collar, arm slits that can be closed with concealed zippers, and pleats coming...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Capes
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.