Yves Saint Laurent rive gauche Whimsical Feather Print Ensemble
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent rive gauche Whimsical Feather Print Ensemble
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 34 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Excellent.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU12112643888
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.
- 1970s Courrege Pink A Line Maxi Cotton SkirtBy André CourrègesLocated in Beverly Hills, CADead stock Vintage 1970s Andre Courreges Pink Maxi Cotton A line maxi Skirt. Snap button in the front. Skirt is styled with Roberto Cavalli Cardigan Jacket Top and Lina Lee...Category
1970s French A-Line Skirts
- Byblos Silk Romper and Overskirt 1980sBy ByblosLocated in Water Mill, NYA fabulous set in off white silk from Byblos consisting of a romper and skirt. The romper has a shirt collar, elbow length sleeves, a breast patch pocket, side seam pockets and epaulets on the dropped shoulders. The button front midi length skirt...Category
1980s Italian Jumpsuits
$375 Sale Price44% Off - Chanel Iconic Ivory Wool Boucle Zippered SkirtBy ChanelLocated in New York, NYChanel iconic ivory wool boucle zippered skirt is fully lined with their signature silk monogram. The center-back invisible zipper measures 8 1/2 i...Category
1980s French Pencil Skirts
- 1980's Christian Dior Chiffon Skirt Suit Numbered Collection 41CBy Christian DiorLocated in Carmel, CALate 1980's Christian Dior Boutique chiffon skirt with separate asymmetrical fitted bodice in black crepe. The ensemble has a numbered label and handwritten tag identifying the colle...Category
1980s French Suits, Outfits and Ensembles
- 70s Emmanuelle Khanh Paris Skirt Set 2pc Tie Top & Wrap Skirt Made in Italy 38By Emmanuelle KhanhLocated in Port Saint Lucie, FLVintage Emmanuelle Khanh Paris light weight wool blend tie top & wrap skirt set, 2pc set, likely made in the 70s. Made from a light wool blend fabric in a fawn-hued tan, it features...Category
1970s Italian Skirt Suits
- Louis Féraud Turquoise Knife Pleat Power Skirt Suit w Provenance - US 8, 1980sBy Louis FeraudLocated in Tucson, AZFrom its striking color to its seductive neo-40s silhouette, this is a suit unafraid to make a bold impression...which makes sense when you realize it belonged to the wife of one of the most notorious mafiosi in American history. Wool crêpe suit with peplum jacket and matching inverse pleat midi skirt. Jacket features collarless round neckline, puffed shoulders, front princess seams and finished left slash breast pocket; 4” trapunto stitched peplum backed in silk gabardine for stiffness. 4-button front closure with snap at waist, plus three ornamental buttons at each wrist; fully lined in “Louis Féraud” tonal imprint silk. Matching midi skirt with plain waistband and three deep inverse pleats from knee to hem, front and back; full princess seams front and back. Rear hidden nylon zipper closure with top button and interior hanging loops; fully lined in matching silk. fabric: wool crêpe, silk noteworthy: dry clean only alterations: secured inverse pleats where separated; original owner added snap at jacket waist condition: excellent measurements: •jacket• neckline circumference: 18” (closed) shoulders: 15” bust: 36” sleeve: 24 ½” from shoulder, 16” from underarm sleeve circumference: 15” at underarm, 10” at wrist waist: 30” length: 19 ½” from shoulder, 12” from underarm peplum sweep: 40” •skirt• waist: 28” hips: 40” length: 30”, including 2” plain waistband sweep: 48” (pleats closed), 100” (pleats open) hem: 1 ½” label: Louis Féraud (made in W Germany) / Cele Peterson...Category
1980s French Skirt Suits
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.