Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Vintage Purple Cape
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor wool pilling throughout.
- Seller Location:Nice, FR
- Reference Number:
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.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Nice, France
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Jean Paul Gaultier Vintage Fight Racism Newspaper Print Graphic JacketBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage rare and collectable black and white newspaper print graphic jacket with "Fight Racism" slogan. This jacket features : - Faux ...Category
20th Century French Bomber Jackets
- Jean Paul Gaultier Vintage Wall and Flags Print JacketBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Nice, FRJEAN PAUL GAULTIER vintage jacket featuring a multi colored wall and flags print. This jacket features : - Velvety touch material. - Faux fur collar. - Faux fur lining and seam deta...Category
20th Century French Bomber Jackets
- Christian Lacroix Vintage Embellished Poncho CoatBy Christian LacroixLocated in Nice, FRCHRISTIAN LACROIX vintage rare embellished poncho coat. This coat features : - Slips on. - Drawstring waist and collar. - Gorgeous black and golden bronze coated fabric with black s...Category
20th Century French Coats
- Versace Jeans Couture Vintage Marilyn Monroe Betty Boop Bomber Moto Jacket XLBy Gianni Versace, Versace Jeans CoutureLocated in Nice, FRVERSACE JEANS COUTURE vintage rare oversized bomber moto jacket featuring ANDY WARHOL's style portrait prints in vibrant colors of MARYILYN MONROE and BETTY BOOP all over. Spring/Su...Category
20th Century French Bomber Jackets
- Jean Charles de Castelbajac Ko and Co Vintage Jumeaux Applique Novelty CoatBy Jean-Charles de CastelbajacLocated in Nice, FRJEAN CHARLES DE CASTELBAJAC KO AND CO vintage rare color blocked wool coat featuring applique twins ("Jumeaux") with books. This...Category
20th Century French Coats and Outerwear
- Moschino Jeans Vintage Iconic Slotter Casino Game Bomber Jacket US Size 6By MoschinoLocated in Nice, FRMOSCHINO JEANS vintage iconic multi colored bomber jacket featuring a slotter casino game print all over. This bomber jacket features : - Faux fur collar....Category
20th Century Italian Coats and Outerwear
- Alexander McQueen Men's blue denim trench coatBy Alexander McQueenLocated in London, GBAlexander McQueen Men's blue denim trench coatCategory
Early 2000s British Coats and Outerwear
- 1960s Black Cotton Jacquard Fitted Long Coat, 60sLocated in Beverly Hills, CA1960s Black Cotton Jacquard evening long coat/ Jacket with 2 front pockets.. This coat is in excellent condition and is barely worn. coat is lined beautifully in silk jacquard. Fi...Category
1960s French Dinner Jackets
- Y3 YOHJI YAMAMOTO ADIDAS black wool double breasted flared capelet trench XSLocated in Hong Kong, NTY3 YOHJI YAMAMOTO ADIDAS black wool double breasted flared capelet trench XS Brand: Y3 Material: Feels like wool Color: Black Pattern: Solid Closure: Button Extra Detail: Double brea...Category
2010s Turkish Trench Coats
- Cruise 2023 Balenciaga X Adidas Set size 2 Jacket and Top New with tagsBy BalenciagaLocated in PARIS, FRBalenciaga set from Cruise 2023 collection in collaboration with Adidas consisting of an oversized black denim jacket and a matching long-sleeved white...Category
2010s French Coats and Outerwear
- Wool oversize coat with leopard print Golden GooseBy Golden GooseLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRWool oversize coat with leopard print. Main fabric composition: 58% wool, 26% polyamide. Lining( on the shoulders only) 64% rayon, 36% cupro. Inside sleeves lining: 100% rayon. No li...Category
2010s Italian Overcoats
- MONSE black deconstructed tulle insert logo embroidered hood sweatshirt XSBy MonseLocated in Hong Kong, NTMONSE black deconstructed tulle insert logo embroidered hood sweatshirt XS Reference: AAWC/A00258 Brand: Monse Designer: Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia Collection: 2021 Material: Cott...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Hooded Jackets
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.