1980s Yves St Laurent YSL wool knit tunic dress
View Similar Items
1980s Yves St Laurent YSL wool knit tunic dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 38 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:West Palm Beach, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU130902284653
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.
- 1990s John Anthony marine blue silk cocktail dressBy John AnthonyLocated in West Palm Beach, FLGorgeous John Anthony cocktail dress in marine blue silk...Chic cut and simplicity of design are what set John Anthony dresses apart, you just know you look fabulous when you put on ...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
- Vintage Valentino cream and black silk polka dot chiffon dress 1980sBy Valentino Garavani, ValentinoLocated in West Palm Beach, FLValentino, Miss V cream and black silk chiffon polka dot dress...Next to Valentino "red", navy and off white polka dots are a recurring theme in many of Valentino's designs...The simplicity of this dress will take it from casual to dressy with the addition of accessories, half the fun of dressing! Bateau neckline dress...Category
1990s Italian Day Dresses
- The Mirrors vintage aqua and green silk print maxi dress with white trim 1970sLocated in West Palm Beach, FLVintage aqua and green silk print maxi dress with white trim 1970s...Labeled the Mirrors...Scoop neck fitted bodice with 3/4 length sleeves that have a band and ruffle below...The at...Category
1970s British Maxi Dresses
$295 Sale Price46% Off - Vintage House of Arts India sheer silk floral print peasant dress 1970sBy House of ArtsLocated in West Palm Beach, FLBohemian style peasant dress from the 1970s, labeled House of Arts. Sheer silk in dark red with a floral print, scoop neckline, raglan sleeves with tie cuffs. Full gathered skirt wit...Category
1970s Indian Day Dresses
$450 Sale Price35% Off - Carolyne Roehm black and white polka dot strapless dress and jacket 1990sBy Carolyne RoehmLocated in West Palm Beach, FLCarolyne Roehm black and white silk polka dot strapless dress and jacket fro the 1990s. Fitted torso boned strapless dress has a double ruffle hem and closes at the back with a zipp...Category
1990s American Day Dresses
- Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren World's End Clint Eastwood Dress 1984-85By Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, Vivienne WestwoodLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer an iconic vintage Vintage Westwood McLaren Worlds End denim tunic featuring Greco rubber embossment throughou...Category
1980s English Day Dresses
- 1960s Navy Mod Knit DressLocated in San Francisco, CA1960s navy blue knit A-line/shift knit dress with square patch pockets over the chest, a dramatic 3-toned stripe nehru collar, and trim down to the hip. The back of the dress has a z...Category
1960s Day Dresses
$159 Sale Price20% Off - 1930'S Purple Rayon Crepe Vionnet Style Ingenious Twisting Bias Seamed Gown As-Located in New York, NY1930'S Purple Rayon Crepe Vionnet Style Ingenious Twisting Bias Seamed Gown As-Is For DesignCategory
1930s Formal Gowns
- 1930S Purple Sheer Rayon Blend Lace GownLocated in New York, NY1930S Purple Sheer Rayon Blend Lace GownCategory
1930s Casual Dresses
- Ossie Clark Summer Vibrant Purple Moss Crepe Gown Vintage 1970's LondonBy Radley, Ossie ClarkLocated in Carmel, CAOriginal 1970's Vintage Ossie Clark lavender gown made from Moss crepe. Signature Ossie Clark 1930's cut and design. UK size 10, which is more like a US ...Category
1970s British Maxi Dresses
- 1920S Blue & Red Cotton Workwear Geo Printed Apron DressLocated in New York, NY1920S Blue & Red Cotton Workwear Geo Printed Apron DressCategory
1920s Casual 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.