Yves Saint Laurent YSL Black Chiffon Metallic Falling Leaves Ensemble, 1978
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent YSL Black Chiffon Metallic Falling Leaves Ensemble, 1978
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 40 (EU)
- Style:dress (In the Style Of)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Material Notes:Silk, Satin, Ribbon
- Condition:Excellent.
- Seller Location:Boca Raton, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU7304804993
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.
- 1930s Black and Blue Batik Floral Print Strappy Sleeveless Maxi Dress / GownLocated in Boca Raton, FLA stunning 1930s taffeta maxi dress. I love the blue batik floral print against the black background. The multiple thin straps from the shoulders and down to the mid back are sexy a...Category
1930s Unknown Day Dresses
- Issey Miyake Black Pleated Sculptural Sleeveless Maxi Dress, 1990sBy Issey MiyakeLocated in Boca Raton, FLFuturistic Japanese designer Issey Miyake is a master of form and fabric, known for creating beautiful sculptural garments that pay homage to the past while bringing us somewhere new...Category
1990s Japanese Evening Dresses and Gowns
- 1970s Mac Tac of Paris Floral Printed Nylon Jersey Cape DressBy Mac TacLocated in Boca Raton, FLIn collaboration with the renowned Paris house of prints, Leonard, the graphic and print designer Mac Tac offered this zany, almost surrealist print for this 1970s silk nylon jersey maxi dress. The print also features large orchids throughout, which is the signature Leonard flower. Done in a silky nylon jersey, the dress features an eclectic print of alternating stripes of white cut-out starbursts and marmalade orange and yellow starbursts on a black ground. This sleeveless dress comes with an attached capelet overlay piece that may be pulled back and worn over the shoulders, revealing another pattern of white starbursts...Category
1970s French Day Dresses
- Vintage Bill Blass Black Velvet Gold Metallic Halter Strapless Evening DressBy Bill BlassLocated in Boca Raton, FLBefore there was Halston, there was Bill Blass as the epitome of American style. Blass’ rise around the 1940s led him to be one of the most prominent women’s designers for multiple brands such as Anne Klein and Anna Miller...Category
1980s American Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Balenciaga Black Polka Dot Silk Mini Dress, 1990sBy BalenciagaLocated in Boca Raton, FLPresented by newly appointed head designer Nicolas Ghesquière, the Fall/Winter 1997 runway captured the Balenciaga essence with a balance of edge and elegance incorporating tailored looks and feminine dresses with the added quirk of playful polka dot prints. Presumably from that collection, this Balenciaga mini dress spares no details. A black silk chiffon overlay accented by a black satin collar and multi-tiered ruffle detail at the hem provide an elaborate frame for the crème and black polka-dot silk crepe underdress. Adding to the boldness of this design are moderate size bishop sleeves with matching black satin cuffs. The vertical aspects and loose flow of this dress give off a 60s youthful aesthetic met with a goth Lolita edge. Size: 36 Size estimate: XS/S Shoulders: 15 inches Sleeves: 25 inches Bust: 34 inches Waist: 30 inches Hips: 32 inches Length: 33 inches At the centre back the dress fastens with an invisible zip while the overlay is closed with hand-set concealed snaps. The cuffs are finished with quarter-ball buttons that mimic the polka dot dress pattern...Category
1990s French Cocktail Dresses
- Fabulous Vintage Galanos Polka Dot Silk Pleated Belted Dress, 1980sBy James Galanos, GalanosLocated in Boca Raton, FLProlific designer James Galanos is known for his luxurious ready-to-wear collections that were crafted to couture standards. Galanos oversaw every detail of his work, even traveling ...Category
1980s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Adolfo Tropical Silk Jersey Strapless Dress with Half CapeletBy AdolfoLocated in New York, NYAdolfo strapless dress with bold green, indigo and white tropical floral print. Wonderfully tailored, with fitted bodice and draped open tulip front slit above the knee for movement...Category
Late 20th Century American Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Valentino Boutique Black Beaded Silk Chiffon Evening Gown Size US 6By ValentinoLocated in New York, NYLuxurious Valentino Boutique black silk evening gown with tiered ruffles, sweeping hemline and hand beaded and embroidered bodice. Two ruffles at bodice are hand beaded with tiny jet...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Badgley Mischka Beaded Black Silk Lace Evening Gown Size US 10By Badgley MischkaLocated in New York, NYBadgley Mischka glamorous black silk lace evening gown, size US 10. Gown features hand beaded and embroidered lace with glass jet beading, and neckline with glass jet beads along cu...Category
Late 20th Century American Evening Gowns
- ALEXANDER MCQUEEN Textured Leather Bubble DressBy Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueenLocated in Berlin, BEIncredible Alexander McQueen textured leather dress with the most amazing dramatic silhouette. This high-quality dress has the most incredible round silhouette - It is made from a textured leather and features a round neckline with beautiful seam-line details, large round puff...Category
2010s Italian Evening Dresses
- SAINT LAURENT BY HEDI SLIMANE 2014 Black Leather Mini DressBy Hedi Slimane for Yves Saint Laurent, Saint LaurentLocated in Berlin, BEThe most incredible leather mini-dress by Saint Laurent from 2014, designed by Hedi Slimane. This exceptional sleeveless mini dress is made from a soft lamb leather and features gor...Category
2010s French Mini Dress
- LILLIE RUBIN Black Cocktail Halter Dress Sexy Size 8 Rhinestones Silk & VelvetBy Lillie RubinLocated in Lakewood, COKnock out gorgeous 1990s Lillie Rubin black cocktail halter dress in silk taffeta and velvet. The very low back and large bow detailed with rhinestones gives this dress a sexy, but ...Category
1990s Evening 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.