Vintage Yves Saint Laurent YSL Moorish print challis knife pleated skirt 1970s
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Material Notes:Challis wool gold brass buttons rayon lining
- Condition:
- Seller Location:West Palm Beach, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU28420615022
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: West Palm Beach, FL
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- Oscar de la Renta Mix Print Silk Jean Style Maxi Skirt with Gold Studs 4By Oscar de la Renta ActiveLocated in West Palm Beach, FLOscar de la Renta mix print silk jean style maxi skirt with small gold studs. A beautiful mix of eye catching prints done in silk. The skirt closes at the waist center front with a f...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Pencil Skirts
- Gloria Sachs Cream & Black Horizontal Stripe Silk Jacquard Pleated Skirt 1980sBy Gloria SachsLocated in West Palm Beach, FLGloria Sachs cream & black horizontal stripe silk jacquard, with mini dots, long stitch down pleated skirt from the 1980s. Band waist skirt has stitch down pleats, unlined. Closes at...Category
1980s American Pleated Skirts
- Chanel Charcoal Wool Kick Pleat Front Pocket Pencil Skirt VintageBy Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld for ChanelLocated in West Palm Beach, FLChanel charcoal wool kick pleat front, curved hip front pocket, pencil skirt. 1990s dark charcoal wool skirt has a narrow band waist, the skirt closes at the side with a bar hook at ...Category
1990s French Pencil Skirts
- Chanel Cotton Denim Yoke Hip Side Gold Logo Button SkirtBy Chanel Boutique, Karl Lagerfeld for ChanelLocated in West Palm Beach, FLChanel cotton denim yoke hip, side gold logo button skirt. Wrap skirt closes at the side front with gold Chanel logo buttons, the skirt closes at the waist with hidden hook & eyes at...Category
20th Century French Wrap Skirts
- Moschino Couture Sheer Black Wrap Front Pleated Maxi Skirt 1990sBy Moschino CoutureLocated in West Palm Beach, FLMoschino Couture sheer black wrap front pleated maxi skirt from the 1990s. Sheer black rayon chiffon skirt with a narrow waist band that wraps & closes at the waist front with button...Category
1990s Italian Wrap Skirts
- Dries Van Noten Navy Pinch Pleated Ombre Hem Mesh Skirt 38By Dries van NotenLocated in West Palm Beach, FLDries Van Noten navy pinch pleated ombre hem mesh skirt. Black grosgrain waist band skirt of navy mesh that is pinch pleated the lower hem is ombre dyed in...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Pleated Skirts
- Alaïa nude pink knitted texturized viscose A line knee length flare skirtBy Azzedine AlaïaLocated in Milano, ITAlaïa Y2K nude pink knitted texturized viscose A line knee length flare skirt (XS) Back zip and hook & eye closure Unlined 95% viscose, 5% nylon Size XS, check the measurements bel...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Circle Skirts
- Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford SS-02 Cotton Laced Safari Skirt with Leopard TrimBy Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Tom Ford for Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Brussels, BEThe sexy pencil skirt was a piece that Carine Roitfeld, Tom Ford’s longtime stylist and former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief, made quite popular in the early noughties. Roitfeld was obsessed with the rigor and discipline of uniforms, but she kept looking for ways to add eroticism to strictly tailored clothes. This military-inspired skirt -with its sensual trim of leopard print chiffon- was an obvious choice for her and hasn’t lost any of its relevance. This is a version of skirt Look 2 as seen on the runway spring/summer 2002, ready-to-wear, model Rie Rasmussen 100% cotton in savana Leopard trim...Category
Early 2000s Italian Pencil Skirts
- VINTAGE 1970’S MISSONI wool tweed A-Line Skirt - Never been WornBy MissoniLocated in COLLINGWOOD, AUVintage MISSONI Wool tweed skirt from the 1970's. Never been Worn. With original tag. Beautiful tweed with cumberband waist. Size 40 Italian, Small. Made in Italy. Colour - beig...Category
1970s Italian A-Line Skirts
- Gianni Versace embroidered floral skirt with chainmail and beaded belt, fw 1999By Gianni VersaceLocated in London, GBGianni Versace, embroidered floral above-the-knee pencil skirt. Silver metal mesh chainmail waistband with turquoise hanging beads and red silk lining. Fall-Winter 1999Category
1990s Italian Skirts
- Dolce & Gabbana silk georgette Raphael painting print maxi skirt, ss 1990By Dolce & GabbanaLocated in London, GBDolce & Gabbana silk georgette maxi skirt - Transfiguration Painting by Raphael (1516–1520) print - Black wool waistband - Six ribbon waist ties Spring-Summer 1990Category
1990s Italian Skirts
- Dolce & Gabbana jute hand-painted 'Sugar Baby' mini skirt, ss 1992By Dolce & GabbanaLocated in London, GB▪ Iconic Dolce & Gabbana jute mini skirt ▪ Hand painted designs ('BORN TO BE BAD!', red lips, 'SUGAR BABY!', and 'MADE IN ITALY') ▪ Large red gems ('LOVE') ▪ Fringe hemline ▪ W 27"...Category
1990s Italian Skirts
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.