Yves Saint Laurent Silk Bias Cut Floral Print Asymmetric Gown
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent Silk Bias Cut Floral Print Asymmetric Gown
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 40 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Studio City, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3571637933
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.
- A Missoni Metallic Gold & Creme Striped Cocktail Dress w/Original TagsBy MissoniLocated in Studio City, CAA Missoni metallic gold and creme striped cocktail dress with a straight silhouette, thin straps and straight neckline. Features hidden side zipper, raw/unfinished bodice edge, hidde...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Cocktail Dresses
$550 Sale Price60% Off - 2003 S/S Alexander McQueen Sleeveless Sequin DressBy Alexander McQueenLocated in Studio City, CA2003 S/S Alexander McQueen "Irere" collection pale gold sequined sleeveless dress with concealed mother-of-pearl buttons and pleats at the hips, producing a graduated front hem which...Category
Early 2000s British Evening Dresses
- Missoni Yellow & Copper Metallic Strapless Jacquard GownBy MissoniLocated in Studio City, CAMissoni strapless metallic jacquard gown in a palette of creme, yellow and metallic-copper. Featuring a geometric design, the gown has a straight ne...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Contemporary Evening Dresses and G...
- 1960s Fontana Sisters Haute Couture Metallic Cocktail DressLocated in Studio City, CAFontana Sisters haute couture cocktail dress made with metallic thread - the thread has oxidized, giving the dress it's unusual, amazing look. Has pane...Category
1960s Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns
$1,250 Sale Price21% Off - 1970's Pauline Trigere Gold & Copper Brocade Evening Gown w/Rhinestone DetailBy Pauline TrigèreLocated in Studio City, CAVintage Pauline Trigere gold & copper brocade evening gown featuring rhinestone detail at top of shoulders. In excellent condition. No size tag, please consult measurements. MEASUREM...Category
1970s American Evening Dresses and Gowns
$925 Sale Price48% Off - Christian Dior by John Galliano Burgundy Chiffon Asymmetrical Cocktail DressBy Christian DiorLocated in Studio City, CAChristian Dior by John Galliano burgundy chiffon double layered cocktail dress with asymmetric fabric pattern at top layer. In...Category
Early 2000s European Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Alexander McQueen corset lace and chiffon cocktail dress, c. 2002By Alexander McQueenLocated in London, GBAn Alexander McQueen corset cocktail dress from the Autumn/Winter 2002 "SUPERCALIFRAGILISTIC" collection. The dress features a ruched bust with flutter cap-sleeves, lace-up detailing contouring the hips, boned bodice and spider-web like lace with dragonflies making appearances throughout. ‘Ryder on the Storm’: Winona Ryder...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Fendi 1990s Python Mesh DressBy FendiLocated in Scottsdale, AZFeeling this Fendi? Add it to your collection! Circa 1990s/early 2000s, this mesh mini dress features a magnified python pattern, genuine python appliqué on the front and back, a win...Category
1990s Italian Day Dresses
- Hermès unusual toile de jouy cotton dress. circa 1960sBy HermèsLocated in London, GBHeritage and tradition are key words in fashion to describe Hermès. Like many of the world’s most prestigious luxury , such as Gucci and Vuitton, Hermès have a long history going back more than a century. This dress is a piece that certainly embodies Hermès's luxury and elegance. Constructed from a cotton toile de journey...Category
1960s French Cocktail Dresses
- Vintage Peter Robinson Cocktail DressLocated in London, GBA colourful vintage cocktail dress by Peter Robinson. The dress is in a wonderful combination of colours, yellow,olive and ivory stripes with gold trim....Category
1950s British Cocktail Dresses
- 1990s does 1920s Isaac Mizrahi Chocolate Brown Paillette Sequin Flapper DressBy Isaac MizrahiLocated in San Diego, CAAmazing 90s does 20s ISAAC MIZRAHI chocolate brown sequined paillette encrusted silk Gatsby style flapper dress! Features thousands of hand-sewn brown paillettes in a variety of shap...Category
1990s American Cocktail Dresses
- Missoni Dress with Jacket Knit Set Divine Deco Design Chic 42 / 8By MissoniLocated in Miami, FLGuaranteed authentic Missoni dress with matching 3/4 sleeve long jacket. Sleeveless knit dress with scoop neck. Beautiful coppery color metallic thread woven with soft white creati...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Shift 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.