1970's Yves Saint Laurent Cotton Floral Tunic Top w/Smocking
View Similar Items
1970's Yves Saint Laurent Cotton Floral Tunic Top w/Smocking
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Studio City, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3571944043
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.
- Rare 1997 Issey Miyake Guest Artist Series No.1 Yasumasa Morimura Pleated TopBy Issey MiyakeLocated in Studio City, CARare and collectible Issey Miyake Pleats Please label Guest Artist Series No.1 Yasumasa Morimura collaboration, pleated long-sleeved blouse from Fall/Winter 1996-1997. Size 4, 100% p...Category
1990s Japanese Shirts
- Christian Dior Trotter Logo Print Top w/Capped Sleeves & Red Overstiched DetailBy Christian DiorLocated in Studio City, CAChristian Dior stretchy capped sleeve top with boat neck, red overstitching at neckline and armhole opening & a repeating pattern of the Dior Trotter logo in beige and white. Size ta...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French T-Shirts
- Vintage Chanel Cream Silk Charmeuse Blouse w/Neckties & Pleated TrimBy Chanel BoutiqueLocated in Studio City, CAVintage Chanel cream silk charmeuse blouse with knife pleated trim at the neckties and sleeve cuffs. Features hidden button closures down center front and goldtone CC logo buttons at...Category
1980s French Blouses and Tops
- Junya Watanabe Blue and White Men's Style Pin Striped Open Back Shirt, c2016By Junya WatanabeLocated in Studio City, CA2016 Junya Watanabe blue and white men's style pin striped long sleeve cotton shirt with a white collar and cuffs. This shirt features an open...Category
2010s Japanese Shirts
- Iconic 1970's Yves Saint Laurent YSL Floral Print Blouse & Skirt EnsembleBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Studio City, CA1970's Yves Saint Laurent iconic floral print blouse & skirt ensemble in a lightweight wool. Blouse features button closure at the top and ruffle trim at collar. In excellent conditi...Category
1970s French Suits, Outfits and Ensembles
- 1970s Pierre Cardin Terry Cloth Maxi Dress w/Multicolored Stripes at HemBy Pierre CardinLocated in Studio City, CAThis 1970s Pierre Cardin terry cloth maxi dress with fitted bodice, A-line silhouette and bright orange, acid green and purple bands at the hem. Zips up th...Category
1970s French Maxi Dresses
- 1996 MARTIN MARGIELA Metal Ring TopBy Maison Martin MargielaLocated in Austin, TX1996 Martin Margiela brown knit crop top with tie back and metal ring neck Condition: Excellent Bust 24" , 18" waist, 21.5" length size XS / SCategory
1990s Unknown Halter Tops
- Pamella Radbill Black Pearl Blouse Pullover with 3/4 SleevesLocated in Milano, ITElegant vintage sweater designed by Pamela Radbill in the 1980s, made in Italy. ORIGINAL LABEL. The sweater is very simple in cut, in fact it has three-quarter length sleeves, with a...Category
1980s Italian Blouses and Tops
$131 Sale Price20% Off - Roberto Cavalli Cotton Long Sleeve ShirtBy Just Cavalli, Roberto CavalliLocated in Milano, ITSweet cotton t-shirt designed by Roberto Cavalli in the 1990s, made in Italy. ORIGINAL JUST CAVALLI LABEL. T-shirt is very light, has long sleeves and is made entirely of black cotto...Category
1990s T-Shirts
$219 Sale Price20% Off - Emanuel Ungaro Polka Dot Shirt with Silk RibbonBy Emanuel UngaroLocated in Milano, ITCharming polka dot blouse designed by Emanuel Ungaro in the 1990s, made in Italy. The shirt has two main colors, black and white. It has long, soft sleeves with narrower cuffs, which...Category
1990s Italian Blouses and Tops
$87 Sale Price20% Off - Moschino Vintage Long Sleeve Floral ShirtBy Moschino, Moschino Cheap and ChicLocated in Milano, ITGorgeous Moschino wool long sleeve t-shirt from the 1990s, made in Italy. The shirt is very simple, very close-fitting, reaching to navel height. The uniqueness of this shirt is in t...Category
1990s Italian Shirt Waists
$78 Sale Price20% Off - Hermès Halter Wrap Top Les Léopards Size S/MBy HermèsLocated in FRCute Authentic Hermès Top Pattern: "Léopards" Ties to cross and tie in front or back, halter neck Made in France Made of 100% Cotton Colorways: White, Yellow, Black Size: Tag s...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Crop Tops
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.