Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Stars And Moon Chain Belt
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Carmel, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4175526261
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 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: Carmel, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Moschino Heart & Rose Tassel Belt NecklaceBy MoschinoLocated in Carmel, CAVintage Moschino Velvet Felt Glass Bead Heart Rose Tassel Belt Necklace Moschino velvet and fabric tie belt can also be worn as a necklace. Features...Category
1990s Italian Belts
- Brunello Cucinelli Horn Waist Tie BeltBy Brunello CucinelliLocated in Carmel, CABrunello Cucinelli horn belt attached by leather straps with a dual-strap waist tie closure. Approximate length measures 31 inches (not including leather strap tie closure). Excellen...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Belts
- Sarah Cavender Mesh Metal BeltLocated in Carmel, CASarah Cavender belt is featured in a silver mesh metal with a hook fastening and measures 7.25 inches wide and 48 inches long. Belt is signed and is in ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Unknown Belts
- Fendi Wide Belt Gold Atelier Buckle 1925By FendiLocated in Carmel, CAFendi black stretch leather belt with massive rectangular buckle engraved with the facade of their Atelier and “FENDI ROMA 1925 ITALY”. Features ...Category
2010s Italian Belts
- Chopard Silk Scarf Foulard Logos Beige W/ White Chamrocks And Chopard “C’s”By ChopardLocated in Carmel, CAChopard Silk Scarf Foulard Logos Beige W/ White Chamrocks And Chopard “C’s” Made in Italy 100% Silk 90cm \ 35inches Square Dry Clean Only. Gently Used with Box Foxy Couture...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Scarves
- John Galliano Ethnographic Damask Print Runway Gown With Jacket Size 38/6, 2002By John GallianoLocated in Carmel, CAJohn Galliano bias cut statement gown, from his 2002 Fall collection, is featured in a damask multi-color print fabric with a mermaid silhouette. Gown h...Category
Early 2000s French Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Hermès BNIB Reversible Leather Strap 32mBy HermèsLocated in West Hollywood, CAHermès brand new limited edition reversible leather strap for medium 32mm H belt. Black and gold perforated leather. 100cm. Comes with original box.Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Belts
- Hermes Collier de Chien Ostrich BeltBy HermèsLocated in New York, NYAuthentic, elegant Hermes Collier de Chien Ostrich Belt from the 1980's. Exotic ostrich skin with polished gold palladium belt buckle accented by studs....Category
1980s French Belts
- Pretty Vintage Maru Obi BeltLocated in London, GBA pretty vintage Maru Obi Belt . These belts are the most formal of obi belts. They have a pattern on both sides, in this case a floral scene in green, peach...Category
1980s Japanese Belts
- Gianni Versace Silk Scarf BeltBy Gianni VersaceLocated in New York, NYGianni Versace Silk Scarf Belt from the 1990's. A silk twill Versace scarf is folded on the bias and then leather belt tabs are added. They a...Category
1990s Italian Belts
- Isabel Canovas Golden Chains and Imposing Glass Cabochons BeltBy Isabel CanovasLocated in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FRIsabel Canovas - Belt made of golden chains and imposing glass cabochons. Additional information: Dimensions: Length: 89 cm Condition: Very good condition Seller Ref number: ACC172Category
1990s French Belts
- Yves Saint Laurent Rare Jewel Belt, 1989By Yves Saint LaurentLocated in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FRYves Saint Laurent -(Made in France) Rare jewel belt in gold metal paved with rhinestones, cabochons and faceted pearls. Collection Rive Gauche Fall-Winter ...Category
1990s French Belts
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.