Yves Saint Laurent
View Similar Items
Yves Saint Laurent
About the Item
This piece is beautifully crafted with stunning colored wood beads. A one of a kind runway piece.
- Creator:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970's
- Condition:Excellent.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU10081645413
Yves Saint Laurent
French 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, Saint Laurent 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 YSL Gold Spike Necklace 1980sBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to present a vintage Yves Saint Laurent YSL gold-tone spike necklace that features an adjustable link chain, and hook closure....Category
Vintage 1980s French Modernist Choker Necklaces
- Yves Saint Laurent Ysl Tri-Tone Metal Spike Necklace 1980SBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to present a vintage Yves Saint Laurent YSL tri-tone spike necklace that features pewter, yellow gold, and silver-tone metals, adjustable link chain, ...Category
Vintage 1980s French Modernist Choker Necklaces
- Yves Saint Laurent YSL Crescent Gold-Tone Collar NecklaceBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Yves Saint Laurent YSL metal gold-tone crescent collar necklace with bead detail and etching. Stamped YSL. Yves Saint Laurent One...Category
Vintage 1970s French Art Nouveau Choker Necklaces
- Yves Saint Laurent Twine Beaded NecklaceBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Yves Saint Laurent twine necklace featuring bronze colored coin beads and resin beads. Please inquire for additional images.Category
Late 20th Century French Rope Necklaces
- Yves Saint Laurent Pre Columbian Gold Metal Mask Pensant NecklaceBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Yves Saint Laurent gold tone metal necklace featuring a large gold tone hammered metal mask pendant mirroring traditional Peruvian burial masks that hangs from a heavy gold tone chain. Extremely rare and the pendant appears to be hand tooled. We believe this piece was made as part of a very small production and not made for mass production. Drop 11in, Pendant 4in *YSL Pre Columbian mask...Category
Vintage 1980s French Artisan Drop Necklaces
- Pal Kepenyes Bronze Stacked Geometric CollarBy Pal KepenyesLocated in Los Angeles, CAResurrection Vintage is excited to offer a vintage Pal Kepenyes one-of-a-kind- brutalist bronze geometric collar necklace. The necklace features irregular shaped stacked pieces of metal with metal ball fasteners, hammered collar...Category
Late 20th Century Mexican Drop Necklaces
MaterialsBronze
- 18k Reticulated Gold Necklace with Akoya Pearls, Pink Tourmaline, and DiamondsLocated in Westmount, CAThe beauty of this necklace is that the more you stare at it, the more you see! Triple strands of dazzling white Akoya pearls form the base around your neck for this creation, and co...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Contemporary Multi-Strand Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, Pearl, Tourmaline, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 18k Gold Necklace featuring Citrine Stones and Graduated Color Citrine BeadsLocated in Westmount, CAIf you are looking to add a regal, earth-toned necklace to your collection, then the search is over. This citrine necklace satisfies all the conditions - from the seven strands of gr...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Contemporary Multi-Strand Necklaces
MaterialsCitrine, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
- 18k Gold Oval Ethiopian Opal Necklace with Coloured Sapphires and EmeraldsLocated in Westmount, CADrawing inspiration from the Sea, this one of a kind necklace plays upon a varying colour palette that is both fun and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The multi-hued faceted opal ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Contemporary Beaded Necklaces
MaterialsEmerald, Opal, Sapphire, 18k Gold, Yellow Gold
- 18 Karat Gold Aquamarine and Freshwater Keshi Pearl Necklace, by Gloria BassLocated in Westmount, CAThis exquisite one of a kind creation is a wide necklace that is meant to be prominently featured on your neck for all to see. The calming colour contrast of the large rough aquamarine stone, bezel set in carved 18k yellow gold, against the cool white of the four strands of freshwater Keshi pearls, is a pleasant and appealing piece of jewelry that will remain amongst your favourites for years to come. Pair this fabulous necklace with any GBD Keshi pearl bracelet...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Contemporary Multi-Strand Necklaces
MaterialsAquamarine, Freshwater Pearl, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
- Faceted Morganite Bead Necklace with 18 Karat Rose Gold Clasp, by Gloria BassLocated in Westmount, CAThe soft and inviting strands of morganite beads that comprise this necklace invoke memories of wispy cotton candy and summer days. The delicate pink beads lead into an 18k rose gold...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Contemporary Beaded Necklaces
MaterialsMorganite, 18k Gold, Rose Gold
- Double Strand Tanzanite Necklace with 18k Coiled Gold Clasp and DiamondsLocated in Westmount, CAThis stunning blue necklace employs a graduated double strand of tanzanite beads in various sizes, and features Gloria Bass' signature gold coil work in an 18k yellow gold clasp bese...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Canadian Contemporary Beaded Necklaces
MaterialsDiamond, Tanzanite, Yellow Gold, 18k Gold
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.