Vintage Tom Ford for YSL Alligator Print Black Patent Leather Trench Coat
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 4 (US)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Montgomery, TX
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU653118571902
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: Montgomery, TX
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- New Oscar de la Renta Mink Trim Boucle Beaded Emerald Green CoatBy Oscar De La RentaLocated in Montgomery, TXNew Oscar de la Renta Mink Boucle Embellished Coat Designer size 8 (will fit different sizes also) Colors - Emerald Green and Black Mink trim at...Category
2010s American Coats
- Exotic Oscar de la Renta Ostrich Feathers and Fox Fur Evening Coat JacketBy Oscar De La RentaLocated in Montgomery, TXOscar de la Renta Feathers and Fox Fur Evening Coat Jacket. Black/Gray Fox fur, Soft Pink and Pink Ostrich Feathers. Very light evening coat....Category
2010s American Coats
- Very Unique Versace Fox Embellished Cut Out Details Black Angora Coat It. 38By VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXVery Unique Versace Fox Embellished Black Coat Italian size 38 Multiple sizes Fox Fringes, Cut Out Details with Beige Background Around Entire Coat, Hook a...Category
2010s Italian Coats
- Vintage Gianni Versace Couture Mink Chevron Pattern Belted Coat It. 42By Gianni VersaceLocated in Montgomery, TXIntricately detailed coat constructed with different shades of mink (black, browns, tan) forming a large chevron pattern. Vintage Gianni Versace Couture Sheared Mink Belted Coat. Ita...Category
Early 2000s Italian Coats
- New $16000 Roberto Cavalli Runway Arctic Fox Rabbit Tiger Print Long Coat It. 42By Roberto CavalliLocated in Montgomery, TXNew Roberto Cavalli Runway Tiger Print Long Coat Designer size 42 Neck : Wide Shawl Collar - Arctic Fox ( origin Finland ). Body : Rabbit - Origin Spain. Saga Furs - Farmed Fur. Pu...Category
2010s Italian Coats
- Tom Ford for Gucci Forest Green Suede Embroidered Fur Collar Coat It 42 US 6By Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in Montgomery, TXTom Ford for Gucci Forest Green Suede Embroidered Coat Designer size 42 - US 6 100% Leather, Fur Funnel Collar, Exquisitely Embroidered with Ribbon and Th...Category
Early 2000s Italian Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Burgundy Stencilled Crepe CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortuny translated the caftan as a loose fitting outer garment, usually made out of silk velvet crepe or gauze the fitted back and open front allowed for elaborate stenciled decorati...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Black Stencilled Velvet Long CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortuny's coats often take their inspiration from a myrid of references,renaissance,persian,arabic .These are often elaborately decorated in historical motifs surprisingly unrelated...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Pink Coral Stencilled Velvet Long CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortunys coats take their inspiration from a myrid of references,renaissance ,persian,arabic .These are often elaborately decorated in historical motifs...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Gauze Sleevless Coat, Provenance Tina ChowBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYTransparent Fortuny gauze pieces are based on the ancient tunic which was a shirt like garment that became traditional attire in roman times, the copts or christian egyptians...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Black Gauze Stencilled Short CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortuny translated the caftan as a loose fitting outer garment, usually made out of silk velvet crepe or gauze the fitted back and open front allowed for elaborate stenciled decorati...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Aquamarine Gauze Stencilled CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYTransparent Fortuny gauze pieces are based on the ancient tunic which was a shirt like garment that became traditional attire in roman times, the copts or christian egyptians...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
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.