Yves Saint Laurent Runway Asymmetric Ruffled Bow Evening Dress, SS 1990
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: FR 36 (US 2-4) but runs small (EU)Waist: 26 in (66.04 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Very good condition.
- Seller Location:Geneva, CH
- Reference Number:
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.
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
Visionary French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent was the first to launch a ready-to-wear label, YSL Rive Gauche Prêt-à-Porter. The inaugural Rive Gauche boutique — a modern shop in Paris’s bustling, bohemian Left Bank district — offered stylish garments and accessories that were intended to be affordable for a younger generation of fashion enthusiasts. The store featured Mies van der Rohe chairs and played host to actor Catherine Deneuve during its grand opening.
Saint Laurent pioneered “cross-design” in fashion, taking inspiration from street trends to modernize haute couture. He was the first couturier to open boutiques for both men and women. Using traditional menswear fabrics and designs for women, he 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 — Rive Gauche is French for “left bank” — followed soon thereafter by YSL Rive Gauche for men. Ready-to-wear materialized during a period of dynamic transformation and experimentation and came to dominate the Paris fashion scene. 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.
The vintage YSL Rive Gauche clothing for sale on 1stDibs includes evening dresses and gowns, jackets, shoes, handbags and other items.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Geneva, Switzerland
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Emanuel Ungaro Draped Knotted Cut-Out Cocktail Dress, Circa 1985By Emanuel UngaroLocated in Geneva, CHDesigned more than thirty years ago, this 80's Ungaro Parallèle cocktail dress is still furiously trendy ! Made from taupe brown soft wool, it is artfully draped and knotted for a bo...Category
1980s European Cocktail Dresses
- Hartnell Haute Couture Beaded Cocktail Dress, Circa 1960By Hartnell, Norman HartnellLocated in Geneva, CHLate 60's Norman Hartnell couture beaded black wool cocktail dress made of three pleated tiers falling in a graceful cascade. Embellished with beautiful black diamond-shape and black...Category
1960s English Cocktail Dresses
- Valentino Silk & Satin Cocktail DressBy ValentinoLocated in Geneva, CHSlightly naughty "little black dress". Silk chiffon accordion pleated skirt and sleeves, black silk satin wide belt and front buttons. Closure of the dress on the left side with a zi...Category
1980s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- Thea Porter Couture Embroidered Silk Chiffon CaftanBy Thea PorterLocated in Geneva, CHVery representative and collectible Thea Porter Couture caftan dating from the seventies. This see-through caftan-dress is made of black silk chiffon with very intricate and refined silver metallic thread embroidery (probably antique Indian or Oriental fabric...Category
1970s English Caftans
- Abraham Pelham Haute Couture Gown and StoleLocated in Geneva, CHAbraham Pelham designed initially for Bill Blass, Calvin Klein and Bergdorf Goodman private label. In 1998 he began creating clothes under his own label...Category
Early 2000s French Ball Gowns
- Jean Paul Gaultier Couture Runway Dress, Fall-Winter 2013-2014By Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Geneva, CHConstructed in the most refined airy silk chiffon, this haute couture runway dress (look 22 -> see picture 3) is a lightness dream. This special piece features a bustier dress (see picture 14) and an over-dress. The skirt of the bustier dress has 3 layers of silk chiffon of different colors. Inspired by the automnal tones, the shades are divine. The dress closes on the left side with a concealed zip, four press buttons, two hooks and eye. Cut for a loose fit, the over-dress features a turtleneck collar which is embellished with iridescent crystal embroideries (see pictures 7 & 17). Echoing the crystal colors, the dress is made of an amazing shot silk chiffon. Raglan sleeves, it closes at the rear of the neck with tree hooks and eye in addition of two scarf like silk chiffon extensions, which delicately fall along the back. Fits approx. : US 4-6 / FR 38 Measurements (taken flat) : Bustier dress -> Width (armpit to armpit) approx. 41 cm (16.1 inches) Waist approx. 36.5 cm (14.4 inches) Length (armpit to waist) approx. 18.7 cm (7.4 inches) Length (waist to hem) approx. 68 cm (26.8 inches) Over-dress -> Width (armpit to armpit) approx. 58 cm (22.8 inches) Length (shoulder to hem) approx. 93.5 cm (36.8 inches) Total length approx. 100 cm (39.4 inches) This item has been professionally cleaned, pressed & carefully inspected by a couture-trained seamstress before being sold. Credit photo : Picture n° 3 -> Jean Paul Gaultier Couture...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Evening Dresses
- Moschino Spring 2004 dressBy MoschinoLocated in Brooklyn, NYSuper cute Moschino black lingerie Spring 2004 dress with lace and hooks on bodice, and ruffles at the bottom as seen on the runway in a pink version. The d...Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Mariano Fortuny Black Silk Peplos GownBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis dress is made of finely pleated black colored silk with silk cording along side seams,shoulders and tunic hem with matte frosted colored glass beads threaded through the cordin...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Peplos
- Mariano Fortuny Black Peplos GownBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis dress is made of finely pleated black colored silk with silk cording along side seams,shoulders and tunic hem with multicolored glass beads threaded through the cording.
...CategoryEarly 20th Century Italian Art Deco Delphos Gowns
- Mariano Fortuny Black Delphos GownBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis dress is made of finely pleated black colored silk with silk cording along side seams, and multicolored glass beads threaded through the cording.
Named after a ...CategoryEarly 20th Century Italian Art Deco Delphos Gowns
- DOLCE&GABBANA Black and Beige Silk Dress with Adjustable Straps | Size 8US 40EUBy Dolce & Gabbana, D&G by DOLCE & GABBANALocated in Cuggiono, MIThis babydoll dress is made of a black silk chiffon fabric and it is fully lined with a silk beige crepe de chine. It features a full circle skirt, a pair of adjustable straps and a ...Category
2010s Italian Babydoll Dresses
- Herve Leger "Belina" Black Asymmetric Fringe Eyelet Strapless Bandage Dress NWTBy Herve Leger by Max Azria, Herve LégerLocated in Chicago, ILHerve Leger "Belina" black asymmetric fringe metal eyelet strapless bandage mini dress. New with tags (MSRP: $1,990). Tight, sturdy and durable construction, built to showcase your c...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Chinese 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.