Yves Saint Laurent Iconic "Opium Collection" Deep Plum Velvet & Ruffed Jacket
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent Iconic "Opium Collection" Deep Plum Velvet & Ruffed Jacket
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2474977693
Yves Saint Laurent
French 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, Saint Laurent 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.
- Giorgio Armani black wool crepe jacketBy Giorgio ArmaniLocated in New York, NYGiorgio Armani black wool crepe jacket has two hidden front buttons. The jacket is fitted and fully lined. The front measures 9", back is 26 1/2", ne...Category
1990s Italian Blazers
$600 Sale Price24% Off - Fernando Sanchez Black quilted silk zipper jacketBy Fernando SanchezLocated in New York, NYFernando Sanchez black quited silk satin zipper jacket has detailed metallic gold piping. The shoulders are puff with a front micro zipper measuring 11". The sleeves' cuff each have ...Category
1980s Dinner Jackets
- Morgane Le Fay designed by Liliana Casabal "Open-Back" jacketBy Morgane Le Fay designed by Liliana CasabalLocated in New York, NYThis Morgane Le Fay designed by Liliana Casabal dark navy linen jacket has an "open-back" that's adjustable. The double-breasted jacket is fully ...Category
1990s Unknown Double-Breasted Jackets
$985 Sale Price36% Off - Carolyn Roehm Navy zipper-wrap jacketBy Carolyne RoehmLocated in New York, NYThis Carolyn Roehm cotton navy zipper jacket is fully lined, and also has attached wrap belts of the same material. The zipper is styled off toward the s...Category
1980s Italian Sport Jackets
- Gianni Versace black wool crepe waist jacketBy Gianni VersaceLocated in New York, NYGianni Versace black wool crepe button jacket is fully lined. The front has detailed metal buttons with "bow" with a Sapphire center. There are five (5) button on front. The fron...Category
1980s Italian Dinner Jackets
- Jean Paul Gaultier Iconic Black Denim JacketBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in New York, NYJean Paul Gaultier's Iconic "Haute Jeanerie" Black cotton denim jacket has detailing top-stitching. There are six (6) front snap closures and also seven (7) snaps detailing on the sl...Category
1980s Sport Jackets
- Child's Vintage 1980's Black Leather Motorcycle Jacket Size 8Located in New York, NYVintage child's black leather motorcycle jacket , size 8. Authentic details feature zip front closure, zippered sleeve cuffs and side pockets, metal snap collar and front pocket. At...Category
1980s American Jackets
- 1980's Sonia Rykiel France Evening Wear Lightweight Silk Velvet Lame DusterBy Sonya RykielLocated in Tustin, CAExquisite 1980's evening wear coat, jacket, blazer or duster is lightweight, vented and easy to wear for dining, parties and dancing, with an animal patterned, soft silk velvet and s...Category
1980s French Single-Breasted Jackets
- Three Sam Kori Greorge Courture Atelier Boucle Jackets. Approximately size 12-14Located in Buchanan, MIThree Sam Kori Greorge Courture Atelier Boucle Jackets In The Style Of Chanel. Each is a wool boucle collarless jacket in blue, brown, and red. Priced per jacket. Approximately s...Category
20th Century American Single-Breasted Jackets
- GIORGIO SANT'ANGELO METALLIC KIMONO FAN BLOUSE 1970sBy Giorgio di Sant' AngeloLocated in New York, NYGIORGIO SANT'ANGELO METALLIC KIMONO FAN BLOUSE 1970s Crimped black and gold kimono-cut top, non-conforming black net sash decorated with metallic gold thre...Category
1970s Italian Jackets
- Wilson’s Leather JacketLocated in New York, NYSize: L Material: Genuine Leather June’s Measurements: Height: 5"3 inches Bust: 32" inches Waist: 24” inches Hips: 35” inchesCategory
1990s Jackets
- F/W 1988 Thierry Mugler Black Les Infernales Structural Runway JacketBy Thierry MuglerLocated in Concord, NCThierry Mugler extremely rare collectible dramatic black belted jacket from the iconic Fall Winter “Les Infernales” 1988 collection and as seen on the r...Category
1980s French Jackets
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.