Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche 70's Leather Shoulder Bag
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche 70's Leather Shoulder Bag
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Height: 8 in (20.32 cm)Waist: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Material Notes:strap length: 41 inches
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU447979982
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.
- Ugo Correani Embellished Leather Shoulder BagBy Ugo CorreaniLocated in New York, NYUgo Correani, red leather half round small shoulder bag, having a a gold tone, baroque frame and clasp and a flap closure embellished with milky tone round stones and more gold baroq...Category
1970s Italian Shoulder Bags
- Yves Saint Laurent Velvet Shoulder BagBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in New York, NYYves Saint Laurent, square shape, velvet evening bag with a long corded strap and a faceted diamente embellishment at the center front. Bag has a hidden zipper closure at the top.Category
1990s French Shoulder Bags
- Imperfectly Perfect by Rebecca Moses Hand Painted Louis Vuitton ToteBy Louis VuittonLocated in New York, NYImperfectly Perfect by Rebecca Mosses, one of a kind, up-cycled, vintage, Louis Vuitton, classic tote, hand painted by fashion designer and artist Rebecca Moses...Category
Early 2000s French Tote Bags
- Chado Raplh Rucci Bias Cut Silk Crepe Gown with A Geometric NecklineBy Chado Ralph RucciLocated in New York, NYChado Ralph Rucci, Couture, beige, silk crepe, bias cut gown having a bias cut back panel that drapes from the shoulder to the floor on one side and a neckline that has gentle pleati...Category
2010s American Evening Gowns
- Donald Brooks Paisley Harem EnsembleBy Donald BrooksLocated in New York, NYDonald Brooks, paisley pattern, copper lurex, dress and harem pant ensemble. Dress has a high neckline, with long sleeves and a gathered self belted waist. Oversize copper paillettes...Category
1960s American Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Galanos Lace Tunic and Slip Dress EnsembleBy James GalanosLocated in New York, NYJames Galanos, 2 piece bronze tone, diaphanous, floral pattern lace ensemble. The ensemble consists of long sleeve tunic having a deep V neck and a ruffle collar, which sits over a ...Category
1980s American Evening Dresses and Gowns
- 1930's Hand Woven Fish Basket Purse Bucket BagLocated in New York, NY1930's hand woven circular fish basket purse with double drop handles to carry in hand or under arm. The bag can also be used to enhance home decor and as a catch all. Beautiful piece.Category
Mid-20th Century Unknown Shoulder Bags
- Hermes Brown Karimi Felt MM Shoulder BagBy HermèsLocated in Pasadena, CAHermes Brown Karimi Felt MM Shoulder Bag *Marked Hermes and M in Square *Made in France *Comes with the dustbag and attachable pouch -It is approximately 12″ x 11.5″ x 3.5″. -The s...Category
2010s French Structured Shoulder Bags
- Hermes Evelyne PM burgundy wine leather SHW shoulder bag, 2001By HermèsLocated in Holland, PAHERMES EVELYNE PM BURGUNDY WINE LEATHER SHW SHOULDER BAG, 2001 This bag is in GREAT condition. Features thick soft clemency leather exterior with sueded leather interior. Contrast...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Shoulder Bags
- CHANEL Metallic Silver Quilted 2.55 Aged Leather Reissue Double Flap Bag 228By ChanelLocated in London, GBCHANEL Metallic Silver Quilted 2.55 Aged Leather Reissue Double Flap Bag 228 C.2006. A beautiful Chanel metallic silver 2.55 reissue double flap bag in very good condition. It is very spacious double flap and the largest size in the reissue 228 bag (28 cm). Handcrafted in cracking aged calfskin leather in metallic silver, classic diamond quilted with the silver Mademoiselle twist lock, double silver Mademoiselle chain strap and silver metal hardware. Silver leather interior, two flap pockets, one large pocket and a half moon exterior pocket. With its unpolished and vintage style, this Chanel aged calfskin...Category
Early 2000s French Shoulder Bags
- Hermes Kelly 28 Rouge Grenat Epsom Leather Gold HardwareBy HermèsLocated in Aventura, FLThis bag, defined as “simple and perfectly made”, exists in many combinations of leathers (around 20) and countless colors. Created in eight different sizes ranging from 15 to 50cm, ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Shoulder Bags
- Chanel Gold Patent Medium Flap Gold HardwareBy ChanelLocated in Miami Beach, FLChanel Gold Patent Medium Flap GHW Bag This is an authentic Chanel Medium Classic Flap in beige patent leather. The bag has a flap closure with a Double C logo turn lock. The interi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Structured Shoulder Bags