Black Yves Saint Laurent Patent Leather Handbag
About the Item
- Designer:
- Period:
- Condition:Pre-owned. Good. Minor discoloration near bottom. Minor wear and use throughout.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU147222609522
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: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 2 days of delivery.
- Black & Beige Chloe Leather & Python Tote BagBy ChloéLocated in New York, NYBlack & Beige Chloe Leather & Python Tote Bag. This tote bag features a leather and python skin body, gold-tone hardware, dual rolled top handles, an exterior front pocket, and an op...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Tote Bags
- Taupe Celine Medium Phantom ToteBy CelineLocated in New York, NYTaupe Celine Medium Phantom Tote. The Medium Phantom Tote features a leather body, gold-tone hardware, dual rolled top handles, and an exterior zip pocket. 24.5" L x 10.5" H x 10" D,...Category
21st Century and Contemporary European Tote Bags
- Etoupe Hermes Negonda Garden Party 36 MM BagBy HermèsLocated in New York, NYEtoupe Hermes Negonda Garden Party 36 MM Bag. The Negonda Garden Party 36 MM Bag features a leather body, contrast stitching, silver-tone hardware, dual rolled shoulder straps, and a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary European Tote Bags
- Vintage Black & Gold Fendi Mesh & Leather Tote BagLocated in New York, NYVintage Black & Gold Fendi Mesh & Leather Tote Bag. This tote bag features and mesh and leather body, gold-tone hardware, and dual rolled shoulder straps. 1...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Tote Bags
- Black Givenchy Large Leather Buckle ToteBy GivenchyLocated in New York, NYBlack Givenchy Large Leather Buckle Tote. This tote bag features a leather body, gold-tone hardware, dual flat adjustable shoulder straps, and a front buckle closure. 15" L x 9" H x ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary European Tote Bags
- Orange & Multicolor Moschino Couture Nylon Shopper ToteBy Moschino CoutureLocated in New York, NYOrange & Multicolor Moschino Couture Nylon Shopper Tote. This shopper tote features a nylon body, leather trim, silver tone hardware, front logo print, dual rolled top handles, a sin...Category
21st Century and Contemporary European Tote Bags
- Hermès Birkin 30cm Noir Veau Togo GHWBy HermèsLocated in London, GBAn amazing Hermès 30cm Birkin bag. The exterior of this Birkin is in Noir Veau Togo leather with tonal stitching. It features gold tone hardware with two straps and front toggle clos...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Tote Bags
- Vintage 90s Chanel Suede with Fur Trim Handbag Top Handle Satchel Flap Bag PurseBy ChanelLocated in Malibu, CA🖤Soooooo Dreamy🖤 Chic and Classic CHANEL black shearling tote Black shearling trims the unbelievably soft black suede. Perfect size bag fits all the essentials and then some! Perfect for those cold winter days when you want to be warm and chic! Such a pretty and feminine vintage...Category
1990s Tote Bags
- 2011 Chanel NEW Limited Edition watercolor graffiti tote beach bagLocated in Miami, FL2011 Beautiful watercolor tote; Very sought after bag, hard to find this bag in NEW condition. Brand new never used with box, dust bag, authenticity card Very spacious, can be worn ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Tote Bags
- Chanel XL cotton towel terry black and white top handle beach tote bagBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLXL towel tote comes with XL reversible CC towel, NEVER USED Leather straps Metal Clasp closure Large CC engraved on both sides of towel Flat Bottom 20" L x ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Tote Bags
- Hermes Birkin 35 Bag Mykonos Matte Alligator Rare ColorBy HermèsLocated in New York, NYRare MYKONOS blue in Matte Alligator is a collectors treasure. Fresh with palladium hardware this beauty is over the top divine and rare! BRAND NEW, NEVER WORN. Comes with lock, ke...Category
2010s French Tote Bags
- Hermes Birkin 35 Bag Black Porosus Crocodile Gold HardwareBy HermèsLocated in New York, NYThe rich black Hermes Birkin bag in crocodile Lisse skin with lush gold hardware is magnificent with beautiful scales. Perfect for year round wear and moves day to night. Hermes Bi...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Tote Bags
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.