Yves Saint Laurent YSL Rive Gauche Vintage Leopard Print Dress
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent YSL Rive Gauche Vintage Leopard Print Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Nice, FR
- Reference Number:Seller: 25201stDibs: LU25928418862
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.
- JEAN PAUL GAULTIER Vintage Trompe L'oeil Maxi Dress with Detachable SleevesBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage maxi jersey dress with detachable sleeves featuring an x-ray screen trompe l’œil jean jacket and jeans on the front and ba...Category
20th Century French Day Dresses
- JEAN PAUL GAULTIER Vintage Sleevless Trompe L'oeil Maxi DressBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage sleevless maxi jersey dress featuring an x-ray screen trompe l’œil jean jacket and jeans on the front and back. This dress features : - Plum jersey backgr...Category
20th Century French Day Dresses
- JEAN PAUL GAULTIER Vintage Semi Sheer Mesh Portraits DressBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage semi sheer mesh dress featuring portraits and cursive text print. This dress features : - FUZZI semi sheer mesh on the body. - FUZZI sheer mesh on the sle...Category
20th Century Italian Day Dresses
- MOSCHINO Vintage French Menu Novelty Bodycon DressBy MoschinoLocated in Nice, FRMOSCHINO vintage black cotton blend bodycon French menu novelty dress. Slips on. Long sleeves. Low back. Has stretch. Label reads MOSCHINO JEANS. Made i...Category
20th Century Italian Day Dresses
$395 Sale Price20% Off - JEAN PAUL GAULTIER JUNIOR Vintage Blue Lace Sheer Panel Bra Mini Denim DressBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER JUNIOR vintage blue denim bra mini dress featuring nylon panels, lace and blue satin bows. Back zippered closure. Orange stitching d...Category
20th Century Italian Day Dresses
- Jean Paul Gaultier Vintage X-Ray Skeleton JacketBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage X-Ray skeleton print plum jacket. This jacket features : - Plum color fabric (probably blended cotton) featuring a X-ray sk...Category
20th Century French Day Dresses
- Genny Fall Winter 1994/95 Mini Dress Flared Sleeve Documented IT44 Small /MediumBy GennyLocated in Los Angeles, CAGenny Wool Minidress Documented Autunno-Inverno 1994/95 (Autumn Winter 94/95) Knee length Minidress/Shift dress Flared sleeve Bateau neckline A-line , structured shape Dark brown ...Category
1990s Italian Mini Dresses
- Nina Ricci 'Boutique' Paris Black and White Wool DressBy Nina RicciLocated in Sharon, CTOffering a Nina Ricci 'Boutique' 100% Wool Dress. Rolled collar and rolled hem. Fully lined.Category
1980s French Day Dresses
- Yohji Yamamoto Black Leather Coat DressBy Yohji YamamotoLocated in Sharon, CTBeautiful avant garde leather and wool blend black outer coat dress.Category
Early 2000s Japanese Tunics and Wrap Dresses
- VERSACE JEANS COUTURE - Black Evening Halter Dress with Sequins Size 8US 40EUBy Versace Jeans Couture, Donatella VersaceLocated in Cuggiono, MIA simple yet sophisticated evening dress, very elegant and exclusive. It features a double string closure which can be knotted on the back of the neck and automatically adjusts to yo...Category
2010s Italian Sheath Dresses
- PRADA - Brown Tunic Tent Midi Dress with Three-Quarter Sleeves Size S/MBy Prada, Miuccia PradaLocated in Cuggiono, MIFollowing Prada's sleek yet iconic style, this tunic dress features a standing ruffled collar, three-quarter sleeves with similar ruffled edges. The polyester fabric is very soft and...Category
2010s Italian Casual Dresses
- Comme Des Garcons bias cut satin jersey dress, ss 1986By Comme des GarçonsLocated in Melbourne, AUThis Comme Des Garcons satin jersey dress from the Fall-Winter 1986 Bias Cutting collection is a great example of the brand’s innovative approach to fashion design. Renowned for thei...Category
1980s Japanese Day 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.