1980s YVES SAINT LAURENT Rive Gauche Black Velvet Dress
View Similar Items
1980s YVES SAINT LAURENT Rive Gauche Black Velvet Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Length: 41 in (104.14 cm)Marked Size: 42 (EU)Bust: 36 in (91.44 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Milan, IT
- Reference Number:Seller: B16019741stDibs: LU52332587563
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.
- Exquisite Vintage James Purcell BNWT $2, 300 Gray Pinstripe Dress Black CrystalsBy James PurcellLocated in San Diego, CAStriking vintage 1990s JAMES PURCELL charcoal gray pinstriped dress! Brand new, with original price tags attached of $2,265 (which is equivalent curren...Category
1990s Cocktail Dresses
- Gibo Early 2000s Italian Made Size 40 Black Cut - Out 3/4 Sleeves DressLocated in San Diego, CASexy early 2000s GIBO black cut-out 3/4 sleeves dress ! Features cut-out above the bust that ties at the center. Simply slips over the head and stretches to fit. The perfect little b...Category
Early 2000s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- 1990s Morgan Le Fay by Liliana Casbal Black Wool Minimalist Vintage 90s DressBy Morgan Le FayLocated in San Diego, CAMinimalist chic at its best in this 1990s MORGAN LE FAY by LILIANA CASBAL black wool sleeveless dress ! This dress is a prime example of the 90s Minimalist...Category
1990s American Cocktail Dresses
- Jackie Rogers Classic Black Satin Bias Cut DressBy Jackie RogersLocated in West Palm Beach, FLJackie Rogers classic silky black satin bias cut dress from the 1990s. The perfect black dress to dress up with jewelry and or a belt. The dress slips o...Category
1990s American Cocktail Dresses
- 1950s Black + Hot Pink Velvet Silk Fit n' Flare Vintage 50s Couture DressLocated in San Diego, CAGorgeous 1950s demi couture black velvet and hot pink silk fit n' flare dress ! Features a tailored bodice with a full skirt. Hot pink bow detail at left side. Matching pink fabric a...Category
1950s Cocktail Dresses
- 1950s Large Plus Size Hand Painted Black Silk Woven Ribbon Vintage 50s DressLocated in San Diego, CABeautiful couture quality 1950s large size woven silk ribbon hand painted dress ! Features a flattering tailored bodice with a forgiving skirt. Hand painted flowers in blue, turquois...Category
1950s American 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.