1965 Yves Saint Laurent Haute-Couture Black Lace & Velvet Tuxedo-Bow Dress
View Similar Items
1965 Yves Saint Laurent Haute-Couture Black Lace & Velvet Tuxedo-Bow Dress
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Style:Little Black Dress (In the Style Of)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Material Notes:Lace, Soutache, Velvet, Silk
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Beverly Hills, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3091279153
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 1950's Madame Grès Haute Couture Sculpted Silk Back-Bow Dress & JacketBy Madame GresLocated in Beverly Hills, CAGorgeous and incredibly rare Madame Grès haute couture sculpted black silk dress ensemble dating back to the early 1950's. Madame Grès felt that the true job of the couturier was not to create a name for one's self, as many designers do, but to pay rigorous attention to the clothing. This stunning set has so much detail, you can tell it was made with loving devotion. The alluring bodice has a low-cut scoop neck with flattering short sleeves. My favorite designer element is the dramatic back bow with chic cut-out. The matching jacket has a shawl-like front with a stunning cropped back. I'd wear the jacket alone with other looks for a unique bolero option. The sculpted panel style skirting ,which looks incredibly hard to mold, reads so fresh to the modern eye...Category
1950s French Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Vintage 1950s Iridescent Gunmetal Silk-Taffeta Beaded Rhinestone Hourglass DressLocated in Beverly Hills, CAStunning 1950's gunmetal silver bombshell custom cocktail dress from the Old Hollywood era of glamour! The bodice is an alluring low plunge shelf-bust bow that falls into a heavily-s...Category
1950s Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Vintage 1960's Arnold Scaasi Black & White Leather Applique Silk Evening DressBy Arnold ScaasiLocated in Beverly Hills, CAIn this gorgeous Arnold Scaasi designer dress, the detailed construction and meticulous attention to detail are comparable to what you will find in modern haute-couture. Arnold Scaas...Category
1960s American Cocktail Dresses
- Vintage 1979 Givenchy Haute-Couture Metallic Gold & Black Burnout Velvet DressBy GivenchyLocated in Beverly Hills, CAGivenchy, the name itself evokes glamour, refined elegance, simplicity and style. Givenchy's trademark of sculpted lines and luxurious fabrics make his work easily recognizable. This gorgeous cocktail dress, dating back to his 1979 collection, is a beautiful example of his brilliance. The fabric itself is a masterpiece; metallic gold and black graphic illusion burnout silk velvet. I adore the elegant slight-puff shoulder billow bodice with lean, long zipper-wrist sleeves. The five-inch long cummerbund nipped waist adds the perfect amount of drama to this timeless beauty. The a-line skirting, with flattering tiered ruffle detail, finishes this garment off with a perfect "femme fatale" vibe. As Givenchy said, "The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress." Measurements Bust:33-34 inches Waist:25 inches Hips:36 inches Sleeve Length:24 inches Total Length:40 inches This vintage Givenchy numbered...Category
1970s French Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Vintage 1950's Elizabeth Arden Couture Ivory Lace & Black Velvet Scalloped DressBy Elizabeth Arden, Ferdinando SarmiLocated in Beverly Hills, CABreathtaking ivory and black corded illusion floral lace party dress created by Italian designer Fernando Sarmi when he was head designer for Elizabeth Arden in the 1950's. Sarmi dev...Category
1950s American Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Vintage 1950's Plaid Print Cotton Strapless Shelf-Bust Bustle Full Dress & ShawlLocated in Beverly Hills, CAIn this gorgeous 1950's graphic plaid party dress ensemble, the detailed construction and meticulous attention to detail are comparable to what you will find in modern couture. This ...Category
1950s American Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- The little black dress by Chanel black and white silk Sculpted figureLocated in Bilbao, ESAbsence of vulgarity was central to Chanel’s definition of luxury, a view formed during her impoverished early life. Born in 1883 in Saumur, France, as Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, she was just 12 years old when her mother died and her itinerant father put her in a home for orphaned girls run by a local convent. She learned to sew and, upon moving to Moulins six years later, became a seamstress. She also sang in nightclubs, earning the sobriquet “Coco,” an allusion to a popular song of the time. Beautiful, one of a kind vintage silk dress and jacket for everyday ware as a coktail dress...Category
1990s Aesthetic Evening Dresses
$2,712 Sale Price32% Off - F/2012 look # 6 NEW VERSACE MACRAME GOTHIC CROSS COCKTAIL SILK DRESS 38 - 2By VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVERSACE Actual Runway Samole Fall/Winter 2012 Look # 6 Macrame Gothic Cross Cocktail Dress This long sleeve, turtle neck cocktail dress features an allover macrame Gothic cross...Category
2010s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- Thierry Mugler Strapless Black Satin Gown, c.1980sBy Thierry MuglerLocated in New York, NYThierry Mugler Strapless Black Satin Gown, c.1980s Thierry Mugler Strapless Black Satin Gown featuring asymmetrical, gathered corseted bodice with rhi...Category
1980s French Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Vintage Black Cocktail Dress with Floral Applique.Located in London, GBA chic vintage black cocktail dress , by 'styled by H Tromp for Melonique Originals Ltd. The dress is in a ribbed fabric with a v backline...Category
1950s Unknown Evening Dresses and Gowns
- NAEEM KANH Black Jersey with Lace Evening Gown Size 8By Naeem KhanLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis Nah Kanh gown is composed of a black jersey and features a lace bodice with nude tone base. There is a center back gold hue zipper. In excellent condition, with original tags. ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Evening Gowns
- Saint Laurent opt art wraparound embossed silk dress with black dots, circa 1980By Yves Saint Laurent Rive GaucheLocated in London, GBThis elegance and feminine Saint Laurent dress is constructed from embossed silk dress with black polka dots on white background. Featuring a V-neckline with gathered shoulders and ...Category
1980s French Evening Dresses
$585 Sale Price35% Off
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.