Vintage 1958 Yves Saint Laurent for Christian Dior Couture Documented Blue Coat
View Similar Items
Vintage 1958 Yves Saint Laurent for Christian Dior Couture Documented Blue Coat
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Length: 42 in (106.68 cm)Bust: 42 in (106.68 cm)Hip: 46 in (116.84 cm)
- Style:Trapeze (In the Style Of)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Beverly Hills, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU3094928973
Yves Saint Laurent
French fashion 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, 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, 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.
Christian Dior
When Christian Dior launched his couture house, in 1946, he wanted nothing less than to make “an elegant woman more beautiful and a beautiful woman more elegant.” He succeeded, and in doing so the visionary designer altered the landscape of 20th century fashion.
Dior was born in Granville, on the Normandy coast, in 1905. His prosperous haute bourgeois parents wanted him to become a diplomat despite his interest in art and architecture. However, they agreed to bankroll an art gallery, which Dior opened in 1928 in Paris with a friend.
This was the start of Dior’s rise in the city’s creative milieu, where he befriended Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau. After seven years as an art dealer, Dior retrained as a fashion illustrator, eventually landing a job as a fashion designer for Robert Piguet, and in 1941, following a year of military service, he joined the house of Lucien Lelong. Just five years later, with the backing of industrialist Marcel Boussac, the ascendant Dior established his own fashion house, at 30 avenue Montaigne in Paris.
Just two years after the end of World War II, the fashion crowd and the moribund haute couture industry were yearning, comme tout Paris, for security and prosperity, desperate to discard the drab, sexless, utilitarian garb imposed by wartime deprivation. They needed to dream anew.
And Dior delivered: He designed a collection for a bright, optimistic future. “It’s quite a revolution, dear Christian!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, the prescient American editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, famously proclaiming, “Your dresses have such a new look.” The press ran with the description, christening Dior’s debut Spring/Summer haute couture collection the New Look. “God help those who bought before they saw Dior,” said Snow. “This changes everything.”
Dior’s collection definitively declared that opulence, luxury and femininity were in. His skirts could have 40-meter-circumference hems, and outfits could weigh up to 60 pounds. They were cut and shaped like architecture, on strong foundations that molded women and “freed them from nature,” Dior said. Rather than rationing, his ladies wanted reams of fabric and 19-inch waists enforced by wire corsets, and the fashion world concurred. The debut got a standing ovation.
In the subsequent decade, Paris ruled as the undisputed fashion capital of the world, and Christian Dior reigned as its king. With the luxuriously full skirts of his New Look, suits and his drop-dead gorgeous evening dresses and ball gowns worthy of any princess, Dior gave women the gift of glamour they’d lost in the miserable years of war.
On 1stDibs, find an exquisite range of vintage Christian Dior clothing, jewelry, handbags and other items.
- Vintage 1979 Lanvin Haute Couture Embroidered Beaded Gold Lamé Cropped JacketBy Lanvin Paris, Jeanne LanvinLocated in Beverly Hills, CAAn extremely gorgeous one-of-a-kind Lanvin Haute Couture metallic gold lamé cropped jacket dating back to the late 1970's. The fabric itself is a masterpiece; sparkling gold snakeski...Category
1970s French Jackets
- Vintage 1958 Balenciaga Haute Couture Orange Duchess Satin Swing Coat JacketBy BalenciagaLocated in Beverly Hills, CAStunning Balenciaga haute couture sunkist orange duchess satin swing coat dating back to his 1958 collection. Cristobal Balenciaga began his life's work in fashion at a very young ag...Category
1950s French Coats
- Vintage 1989 Yves Saint Laurent Leopard Print Cotton Twill Trench Jacket w/TagsBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Beverly Hills, CAChic Yves Saint Laurent leopard print cotton-twill trench jacket from the infamous Rive Gauche collection during spring-summer of 1989. Pieces from this collection are very rare and are true examples of fashion history. I adore the cuffed-sleeves and front duel pockets. The jacket features hidden buttons and a sexy back-slit. It is wearable and comfortable, yet has its own iconic elements. The best part of all is, the trench is in mint never worn condition! "In the mid-1970s the relevance of haute couture was seriously debated. The political and social upheaval of the 1960s, the emergence of a plethora of creative ready-to-wear designers, and the increasing preference for a sportswear approach to dressing as represented by American fashion were among the shifts in lifestyles and taste that appeared to sound the death knell of the calcified and elitist world of the maisons de couture. It was at this time that Yves Saint Laurent, haute couture’s preeminent practitioner, threw caution to the prevailing winds with a collection of unrivaled fantasy and luxury." Measurements Marked a EU 36 Bust: 40 inches Hips: up to 52 inches Sleeves: 24 inches Total Length: 42 inches This YSL designer...Category
1980s French Jackets
- Vintage 1968 Norman Norell Black Wool Over-Sized Collar Double Breasted Mod CoatBy Norman NorellLocated in Beverly Hills, CAThis chic Norman Norell coat, in a timeless black color, exemplifies his signature blend of couture level quality with quintessentially American style. This gorgeous garment, dating ...Category
1960s American Coats
- Vintage 1951 Pierre Balmain Haute Couture Black Velvet Wide-Cuff Swing CoatBy Pierre BalmainLocated in Beverly Hills, CABreathtaking Pierre Balmain Paris black velvet swing coat dating back to his documented 1951 Fall/Winter collection. Pierre Balmain worked under Robe...Category
1950s French Coats
- Vintage 1970 Zandra Rhodes Couture Graphic Print Wool Tassels Full-Length CapeBy Zandra RhodesLocated in Beverly Hills, CAImportant Zandra Rhodes Couture graphic printed oatmeal wool full-length cape dating back to 1970. Zandra Rhodes was one of the British designers who put London at the forefront of t...Category
1970s English Capes
- ALEXANDER WANG blue & black DENIM PRINT LEATHER BIKER Jacket 2 XXSBy Alexander WangLocated in Zürich, CHauthentic Alexander Wang washed out biker jacket in indigo and black lambskin with a notch collar, epaulettes, one zipper chest pocket and two front slit pockets. Closes on the front...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Jackets
$632 Sale Price20% OffFree Shipping - 1990s Krizia Steel Blue Grey 90s Stylish Vintage Windbreaker Moto JacketBy KriziaLocated in San Diego, CAWho says a windbreaker has to be drab?!? This 1990s KRIZIA windbreaker is both chic and functional! Nice steel blue / gray color. Silver zipper up the front, with hidden snaps at eac...Category
1990s Italian Jackets
$500 Sale Price23% Off - Chic 1960s Yves Saint Laurent Navy Blue Lightweight Wool Vintage Swing JacketBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in San Diego, CAChic and classic vintage late 60s YVES SAINT LAURENT YSL Rive Gauche lightweight wool swing jacket! The perfect alternative to a black jacket, this gem matches anything, and is perfe...Category
1960s French Jackets
- Fantastic Vintage Escada Avant Garde 1980s Embroidered Velvet 80s Bomber JacketBy Margaretha LeyLocated in San Diego, CAStylish vintage LAUREL for ESCADA 1980s Avant Garde velvet cotton bomber jacket! Features panels of hunter green, royal blue and purple, with gold em...Category
1980s German Jackets
- Blue Dyed Mongolian Lamb + Sheared Rabbit Fur JacketLocated in Sparks, NVVintage 1980s dyed cobalt blue fur bomber jacket in sheared rabbit and Mongolian lamb by Élan from the estate of Pamela Lewis (Jerry Lewis/ Gary Lewis). Fully lined with front zip cl...Category
1980s Chinese Jackets
- Thierry Mugler Panel Transparent Rivet Riveted Metal Star Zipper Medium JacketBy Thierry MuglerLocated in PARIS, FRBeautiful panel transparent jacket by Thierry Mugler! With metal rivets. Wasp Waist. LIKE NEW! condition. SIZE Medium. Marked size: IT42 / FR38/ G...Category
1990s 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.