Iconic Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Olive Green Safari Tunic, 1968.
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Length: 30 in (76.2 cm)Bust: 34 in (86.36 cm)Waist: 30 in (76.2 cm)Hip: 34 in (86.36 cm)
- Style:1960s (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU169128943212
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: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- S/S 1990 Thierry Mugler Black and Green Sculptural DressBy Thierry MuglerLocated in New York, NYS/S 1990 Thierry Mugler Black Cotton Dress with Layered, Tiered Skirt Panels Backed with Acid Green Cotton; Fitted Bodice with Adjustable Straps; Self Belt w...Category
1990s French Cocktail Dresses
- c. 1970s HALSTON Orange Matte Jersey Halter Dress with Matching JacketBy HalstonLocated in New York, NYc. 1970s HALSTON Orange Matte Jersey Halter Dress with Matching Jacket; Draped U-Neckline with Cowl Back; Rouleau Strap with Hook and Eye Closure; Slit at Center Front; Short Sleeve ...Category
1970s American Aesthetic Day Dresses
- Ossie Clark Celia Birtwell Print Dress c. 1970s Worn by Julia RobertsLocated in New York, NYOssie Clark Celia Birtwell Printed Dress c. 1970s Worn by Julia Roberts in 1997 Conspiracy Theory; Empire dress with self ties at neckline a...Category
1970s British Empire Waist Dresses
- c. 1967 Pierre Cardin Documented Dress MuseumBy Pierre CardinLocated in New York, NYc. 1967 Pierre Cardin Futuristic Dress Mini dress of navy wool jersey knit. The tubular mini dress has a rounded neckline and short sleeves. Red, sh...Category
1960s French Shift Dresses
- Nina Ricci Grey Wool Knit Cocoon Coat, c.1970sBy Nina RicciLocated in New York, NYNina Ricci Grey Wool Knit Cocoon Coat, c.1970s 1970s Nina Ricci Grey Cocoon Coat featuring boat neckline collar and tapered Raglan sleeves. Three wooden button closure at center fron...Category
1970s French Cocoon Coats
- Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Black Gown with Open Back, 1990.By Yves Saint Laurent Rive GaucheLocated in New York, NYYves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Black Gown with Open Back, 1990. Full length woven dress with waistband. Features slit at center front and open ...Category
1990s French Evening Dresses
- ALAÏA 1990 black knitted mini dressBy Azzedine AlaïaLocated in Genève, CHAlaïa knitted mini dress with sheer raised edge skirt -Back closing with a hidden set zipper -Long sleeves -Nude knitted lining -Made in Italy -100% V...Category
1990s Italian Mini Dress
- Gucci by Tom Ford cherry blossom dress, SS 2003By Tom Ford for GucciLocated in London, GBThis slinky viscose cherry blossom dress was designed by Tom Ford when he was creative director or Gucci. The short sleeved version of the dress a...Category
Early 2000s European Mini Dresses
- YVES SAINT LAURENT BY TOM FORD S/S 2002 Runway Sheer Silk Two-PieceBy Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent, Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Berlin, BEThis leopard print two piece was the opening look for Yves Saint Laurent’s Spring Summer 2002 Rive Gauche collection by Tom Ford. This elegant two-piece consists of a high waisted silk pencil skirt and a zip up sleeveless silk top in a classic leopard print. This safari inspired set features beautiful details such as the YSL logo on the right side of the front of the bodice, and also embossed on the zipper. The bodice features a deep V neckline, multiple pockets on the front and drawstrings at the sides, the back features a transparent panel...Category
Early 2000s French Twin Sets
- Jean Paul Gaultier Robot Cyber 5th Fifth Element SS90 Trompe L'oeil DressBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in PARIS, FRJean Paul Gaultier Soleil Robot Cyber 5th Element Black and Grey Trompe L'oeil Sci-fi SS90 Turtleneck Colorblock Mesh Transparent Midi Dress It was the turn of the century and sci-fi fashions of the future were on every designers mind. Jean Paul Gaultier did the costumes for the movie The Fifth Element, set in the future when man roamed and partied freely amongst the stars. It is that exact future where Monsieur Gaultier surely saw this dress. Made from two layers of his famous stretch net the body has been mapped out in shades of grey with very determined seams. Marked a size Medium dress...Category
1990s French Mini Dresses
- Jean Paul Gaultier JPG Soleil Golden Eagle Hawk Kendall Jenner Skirt Top SetBy Jean Paul Gaultier Soleil, Jean Paul GaultierLocated in PARIS, FRJean Paul Gaultier JPG Soleil Vintage Japanese Golden Eagle Koi Fish Kendall Jenner Wave Yellow Mesh Sheer Transparent Wrap T-shirt Skirt Top Dress Golden Japanese Eagle...Category
1990s Maxi Dresses
- Jean Paul Gaultier Faces Silhouettes Paris Cinema Transaprent Mesh DressBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in PARIS, FRJean Paul Gaultier Faces Silhouettes Paris Cinema Transaprent Mesh Dress “Dressing is a pleasure; clothes are not a joke.” — Jean Paul Gaultier Every...Category
1990s Italian Maxi Dresses