Early Yves Saint Laurent Heart Brooch
About the Item
- Creator:
- Metal:Gilt Metal
- Dimensions:Width: 2.5 in (63.5 mm)Length: 2.5 in (63.5 mm)
- Place of Origin:France
- Period:1970-1979
- Date of Manufacture:1970
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. light wear on enamel.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU468680702
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 PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Celine Logo Scarf ClipBy CelineLocated in New York, NYCeline Logo Scarf/Lapel Clip from the late 1980's. Made in Italy for Celine, Paris. 2" x 2". 1989 France. Excellent condition.Category
Vintage 1980s French Brooches
MaterialsGilt Metal
- Massive Etruscan Framed Victorian Shell CameoLocated in New York, NYMassive Etruscan Framed Victorian Shell Cameo from the mid 19th Century. Beautifully carved cameo of young maiden with ornate Etruscan work borde...Category
Antique 1850s American Victorian Brooches
Materials14k Gold
- Miriam Haskell Looping Bow BroochBy Miriam HaskellLocated in New York, NYMiriam Haskell's looping bow circle brooch of signature Russian gilt and hand sewn crystal rose montes and seed pearls. 1940's USA. Excellent condition. L1.75" W1.75"Category
Vintage 1940s American Brooches
MaterialsGilt Metal
- Rebajes Sterling Modernist Bird BroochBy RebajesLocated in New York, NYRebajes Sterling Modernist Bird Brooch made from a single sheet of sterling metal. The wing is cut in one and folded down over body and is then further ...Category
Vintage 1940s American Modernist Brooches
MaterialsSterling Silver
- Ruby and Emerald Baguette French Clip BroochLocated in New York, NYLarge scale bombe faux ruby and faux emerald baguette dress clip brooch, 1950s. Baguettes are set in layers for dimension. Possibly by Roger Jean Pierre. Length 2.75", W 2.50". Fra...Category
Vintage 1950s French Brooches
MaterialsGilt Metal
- De Nicola Aurora Swirl BroochLocated in New York, NYLarge, dimensional, domed Aurora bead Swirl Brooch by De Nicola with pave accents. Green faceted crystal beads with iridiscent highlights are wired into a...Category
Vintage 1950s American Brooches
MaterialsGilt Metal
- Ladybug-Shaped Pendant and Brooch with Enamel of Various ColorsLocated in Rome, ITThe pendant in the shape of a ladybug with open wings, can be worn both as a pendant and as a brooch. The ladybug is decorated with transparent enamels of various colors. Its manufa...Category
Antique 19th Century Retro Pendant Necklaces
MaterialsEnamel
- Otto Strandman Art Nouveau 1914 Bacchus Silver Brooch, Stockholm SwedenLocated in Skanninge, SEBacchus the wine god by Otto Strandman (1871-1960), Stockholm 1914. Wonderful Swedish Art Nouveau silver brooch. Great condition, no issues. With full s...Category
Vintage 1910s Swedish Art Nouveau Brooches
MaterialsSilver
- Atelier Borgila Stockholm 1944, Modernist Brooch in Gilt Sterling SilverBy Atelier BorgilaLocated in Skanninge, SEVery nice modernist brooch depicting a bird in flight. Gilded sterling silver with maker marks. Fine vintage condition, only some minor scratches. Atelier Borgila was founded by de...Category
Mid-20th Century Swedish Modernist Brooches
MaterialsSterling Silver
- Harald Nielsen for Georg Jensen Denmark BroochBy Harald NielsenLocated in Skanninge, SEA fine brooch by Harald Nielsen for Georg Jensen. Made during world war II. It is made in silver and patinated steel. This was something they did because of the war. Marked "HN GEOR...Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Modernist Brooches
MaterialsSterling Silver, Stainless Steel
- Matti J Hyvarinen a Set of Necklace, Earrings and a Brooch, Sterling, FinlandBy Matti J. HyvärinenLocated in Skanninge, SEA set of necklace, a pair of earrings, and a Brooch in sterling silver by Matti J Hyvarinen Finland. All parts marked "MJH 925". Made in the 1970s. V...Category
Vintage 1970s Finnish Modernist Brooches
MaterialsSterling Silver
- Erik Fleming for Borgila 18k Gold Brooch, Stockholm Sweden, 1944By Atelier BorgilaLocated in Skanninge, SEWonderful 18k gold brooch depicting a flower. Made by Erik Fleming (1894-1954) for Borgila. 18k gold together with one pearl. Great condition, no issues. Diameter 4.5cm (in 1.78)Category
Vintage 1940s Swedish Modernist Brooches
Materials18k Gold