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Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

French

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.

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Period: Mid-20th Century
Designer: Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
1970's YVES SAINT LAURENT Black Silk Dress with Marabou Feather Trim
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in San Fransisco, CA
Black crepe silk mini dress with marabou feather trim and satin bow designed by Yves Saint Laurent dating to the late 1970's. Labeled a French size 38. Approximate measurements: shou...
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Mid-20th Century French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

1960's YVES SAINT LAURENT rust 'saharienne' safari tunic
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in San Fransisco, CA
Very rare, rust twill 'saharienne' safari tunic from Yves Saint Laurent dating to the 1960's. Buttons up front. No size labeled although this would best fit a US 2-4. Approximate me...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

1960's YVES SAINT LAURENT violet purple brushed wool coat with braided trim
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in San Fransisco, CA
Dramatic, violet-purple, brushed-wool coat with black braided trim and toggle buttons from Yves Saint Laurent dating to the late 1960's. Coat has an A-line shape. Labeled a French si...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

Yves Saint Laurent "rive gauche" by Yves vintage 1970s green wool dress
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in Antwerp, BE
This Yves Saint Laurent "rive gauche" A-Iine dress is undeniably stunning, exuding a runway-worthy allure that feels like a direct creation from the latest runway collections. Craft...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

early 1970's YVES SAINT LAURENT khaki cotton poplin trench coat with cape
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in San Fransisco, CA
Tan, cotton poplin trench coat with cape designed by Yves Saint Laurent dating to the early 1970's. No size is indicated however this fits many sizes due to the loose cut. Approximat...
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Mid-20th Century French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

1970s Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Russian Wool Cropped Jacket
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
Located in Miami, FL
1970s Saint Laurent Rive Gauche black bolero style wool jacket bought from Dayton's Oval Room, the posh third floor of a high end Minneapolis department store that is no longer in bu...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

Yves Saint Laurent Shell Clutch Bag
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
Yves Saint Laurent - Straw clutch decorated with a shell. Additional information: Dimensions: Width: 25 cm, Height: 16 cm, Depth: 3 cm, Handle: 120 cm Condition: Good conditio...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

Iconic Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Olive Green Safari Tunic, 1968.
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
Located in New York, NY
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Olive Green Safari Tunic, 1968. Olive green cotton tunic features laces at the front with long cords that are run through metal grommets, to be worn op...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

YSL Yves Saint Laurent Vintage 1960s 60s Gray Wool Pencil Skirt
By Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Yves Saint Laurent
Located in Sparks, NV
Gorgeous tailored gray wool skirt by Yves Saint Laurent. Details: Fully Lined Side Metal Zip and Hook Closure Marked Size: 38 Estimated Size: ...
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

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A Rafia Mini Skirt by Yves Saint Laurent - African Collection Circa 1967
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1960's See-through black embroidered on tulle base "A" line . Embroidered with black passementerie ruban. SIZE :M
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

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:
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1960s French Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Iconic Saharienne Safari Tunic C. 1968
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This Yves Saint Laurent vintage safari jacket was gifted to a Parisian model in 1969 and it is featured in an olive green cotton twill with a lac...
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Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Tye-Dye Pant + Safari Jacket Ensemble Set c. 1968
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Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche fashion for sale on 1stDibs.

Find an extraordinary range of authentic Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche fashion available on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing our collection of unique vintage and designer fashion to elevate your daily look or to introduce new colors to the dazzling formal wear in your wardrobe, this designer’s body of work includes elements of red, blue, purple and other tones. Most of the items here were designed during the 20th Century, but you can find examples that were created as recently as the 21st Century and Contemporary. Customers who are interested in this designer might also find the work of Thierry Mugler, Givenchy, and Christian Lacroix appealing. On 1stDibs, find haute couture, vintage and designer Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche fashion from top boutiques around the world. Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche fashion prices can differ depending upon time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $117 and tops out at $22,500, while the average work can sell for $987.

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Questions About Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    In fashion, Rive Gauche refers to the Left Bank area of Paris. The French phrase "Rive Gauche" literally translates to "left river" in English. Normally, Rive Gauche fashion is more trendy and casual compared to the more timeless and elegant Rive Droite or Right Bank. You'll find a selection of designer apparel, handbags and accessories on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Saint Laurent Rive Gauche is a line of ready-to-wear fashion that was released under the ‘Yves Saint Laurent’ name. Saint Laurent himself said he “had had enough of making dresses for jaded billionaires”; so he created the Rive Gauche line of high-quality fashion that was more accessible than the haute couture line. You can find vintage and contemporary Yves Saint Laurent bags, clothing and accessories from some of the world’s top boutiques on 1stDibs.

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