Diana Vreeland Puts St. Laurent on the Cover of Vogue - 1963

April, 1963.  Diana Vreeland is making her influence known at Vogue magazine, where she was hired the previous year.  Sometime during 1963, Vreeland took over as Editor-in-Chief from Jessica Daves, though her name would not show up on the masthead as such until sometime in the spring of 1964.  Until March or April of 1964, Daves is listed on the masthead as Editorial Advisor and Vreeland's name is not listed at all.  But I digress.

Diana Vreeland was an early champion of the work of Yves St. Laurent, after he opened his own couture house in 1962.  In her efforts to bring a more youthful vibe to the pages of Vogue magazine, she featured St. Laurent's fresh take on fashion frequently.

For the cover of the April 15, 1963 issue of Vogue, Jean Shrimpton wears Yves St. Laurent's polka dotted silk evening gown with separate beaded top.

In the same issue, St. Laurent is given a full page color image of another of his evening looks in the editorial spread, "Paris - When it Shimmers."  Vreeland calls the two piece evening dress "ravishing."  And she features St. Laurent's look one page ahead of Dior's linen daytime dress.  Oh la la!

Both images by William Klein for Vogue, April 1963.

Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St. Laurent, 1962

Another piece from Yves St. Laurent's first couture collection under his own label.  This white silk evening gown has a lace bodice and train.

Yves St. Laurent Suits from his First Collection Spring 1962

In the spring of 1962, Yves St. Laurent showed his first couture collection under his own label.  His designs were an immediate success and one of the most famous couture houses in history was on it's way to influencing fashion the world over for years to come.  Here are some of the lady-like suits St. Laurent showed in that first collection.  Note his use of contrast fabrics for separate little blouses and other details. 

Vibrant red wool suit accented with a navy blue blouse in mohair voile and a double row of gold buttons.

Beige and brown wool tweed suit with a beige wool blouse that buttons asymmetrically and has a big detachable black silk bow.  Wide brimmed hat to match in the same tweed.

The same tweed suit without the jacket, showing the details of the blouse.

A white wool suit accented with a gray and white printed silk fabric 

for the belt, the blouse and the hat band.

Wool houndstooth suit with a collarless jacket.  The bronze silk blouse shows at the collar and at the hip.  Shown with a matching houndstooth "cowboy" hat.

Autumn Inspirations, 1979

Christian Dior Boutique, Fall 1979

 It's 56 degrees this morning, the first time the temperature has dropped below 60 in many weeks.  It's August.  Are you thinking about your fall wardrobe yet?  Are you dreaming of wearing darker colors?  Layers?  Boots?  I've started listing vintage garments for fall at Couture Allure.  Today's autumn inspiration looks are from 1979.  What are you looking for for fall?

Yves St. Laurent, Fall 1979

Nina Ricci, Fall 1979

Yves St. Laurent Evening Gown

Yves St. Laurent designs a gown that could have come straight out of his years at Dior in the 1950s.  What's old is always new again......this gown was part of his Spring/Summer Haute Couture collection in 1987.

Yves St. Laurent Jumpsuit, 1969

Summer, 1969.  Crepe jumpsuit by Yves St. Laurent has bell shaped sleeves with a triple ruffle flaring out below the elbow.  Photo shot at the Ancient Greek Theater of Taormina in Sicily by Roland Bianchini.

Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St. Laurent, 1985

No one does silk taffeta better.  Evening gown with huge train by Yves St. Laurent, 1985.

Inspiration from Christian Dior - 1960

Today's spectacular garment is a strapless ball gown by Christian Dior for Spring, 1960.  This gown was designed by Yves St. Laurent as part of the collection which would ultimately be his last for Dior.  Pink was a hugely popular color in 1960 and this gown is made of a melon pink silk organdy.  The organdy also fashions ruffles that explode at the bodice and hem.

How does this gown inspire you?

Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St. Laurent Wedding Gown, 1983

Our second June bride wears a slim lace sheath overlaid with layers of tiered white tulle.  Pink satin bows adorn the neckline and waist.  Yves St. Laurent, 1983.  The photographer has captured the ethereal nature of the tulle by the use of a back light to great effect.

Photo by Terence Donovan

Mondrian as Inspiration

Dear Readers: Your blog hostess is in need of a break. This week, I will be republishing random posts from the last 5 years. As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome. Thank you for being here!

Piet Mondrian: "Kompozicija" 1921

Quick, who designed this dress?

You said Yves St. Laurent, didn't you? Sorry, wrong. This is actually a linen top and skirt by Jr. Sophisticates. The ad appeared in Vogue magazine in April of 1961. 1961?????? But St. Laurent didn't debut his own label until January of 1962!

That's right, my friends. Using Mondrian as an inspiration for fashion was not the original idea of Yves St. Laurent. So, who was the designer at Jr. Sophisticates in 1961? Anne Klein, that's who. She designed an entire group of one and two piece dresses based upon the paintings of Mondrian a full 4 years before St. Laurent's versions made such a splash in Paris.

There is a major difference, though. Klein's top above looks rather blocky and square, rather shapeless. Take a look at the two St. Laurent versions below, from his Fall/Winter 1965/66 collection.

See how the dress curves in gently at the sides to define the waist?

See how there is subtle shaping at the bust? There are no darts, but the dress curves gently over this area.

You can see it better in this photo of the first dress from the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Instead of piecing flat blocks of fabric and covering the seams with black binding, as it appears was done by Klein, St. Laurent has cut the blocks of color and black strips separately. But the pieces are not squares and rectangles. They actually have odd angles at the edges. The shaping of the garment that would normally be achieved with darts is all cleverly hidden in the seams where one piece joins another. And when those oddly shaped pieces are joined together, they appear as a flat grid as in Mondrian's painting.

That, my friends, is couture.

For more Mondrian inspired fashion, take a look at this site, which was put together several years ago by Snap Dragon. Even Nike has produced Mondrian inspired shoes, shown here.

UPDATE:  Welmoeds posted a comment in which she shared her blog post about designing a copy of the YSL dress for herself.  She drafted the pattern and you can see that on her blog here.  And you can see the fantastic results here.  Fabulous job and thank you for sharing Welmoeds!

Claude Lalanne Jewelry for Yves St. Laurent, 1976

French artists Claude Lalanne and her husband Francois-Xavier Lalanne are best known for their large metal sculptures. He preferred to sculpt animals, while she used botanical references in her work. Yves St. Laurent was a great admirer of their work and had several pieces in his private collection. Claude Lalanne designed jewelry and belts for Yves St. Laurent as early as 1971, but I especially like these pieces that she made in the spring of 1976.

Above, a fantastical copper headpiece consisting of branches and flowers with a large butterfly at the front.

A romantic choker necklace with large butterflies both front and back.

And here, a small image of the gorgeous cuff bracelets, which look like ginko leaves that curve around the arm. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Lalanne also designed furniture. Above, one of the bronze chairs that was commissioned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for the courtyard of the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum.


This is a view from above of a 1996 bronze ginko leaf patio table that came with 6 chairs. The set sold at auction in 2008 for $314,500.

If you're lucky enough to be in Florida, you can see many of the outdoor sculptures of the Lalannes at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden this year.

Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St. Laurent, 1983

A silver beaded jacket worn over a silk mousseline blouse and gray flannel pants, all by Yves St. Laurent, 1983.

Yves St. Laurent's Nod to Elsa Schiaparelli

For his Fall/Winter "Collection Shakespeare" of 1980, Yves St. Laurent paid tribute to literature by using references to various poets in a surrealistic manner.

The jacket shown above is embroidered with a line from Jean Cocteau's 1920's poem "Battierie". Translated, the line reads, "Sun, I am black inside and rose outside, which is the metamorphosis." The pink satin jacket is lined in black velvet and a crystal and sequined sun forms the collar.

This black coat is embroidered with the title of a poem by Apollinaire, "Tout Terriblement".

As part of the same collection, St. Laurent showed this blue velvet jacket embroidered with a pair of eyes and the words, "Les Yeux d'Elsa". Translated as "The Eyes of Elsa", the words are the title of a poem by Louis Aragon. However, St. Laurent also cleverly pays tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli with this jacket by taking inspiration from her Zodiac Collection of 1938-39.

This Schiaparelli jacket in blue velvet is embroidered with the signs of the zodiac, planets, and constellations.

Metropolitan Museum Costume Collection

And this Schiaparelli jacket from the same collection, is embroidered with gold starbursts. Do you see the inspiration?

Paris Couture - 1966

How about a little Parisian couture from the Fall of 1966 today? Yes, I thought so.

Left: Christian Dior black silk crepe dinner dress with a wide band of silver sequins at the empire waist and at the same level on the upper arm. The long sleeves are slit to the wrist.
Right: Christian Dior black silk crepe evening gown with cut-outs at the back accented with diamanté ball buttons.

This cut-out style was destined to be copied by nearly everyone. I've sold numerous 1960's cocktail dresses with interesting cut-outs at the back. This is the original.

Lanvin black silk crepe evening gown is circled in stripes of pink, acid green, and black sequins at the bodice. Interesting squared-off armholes.

Patou coatdress in cream double-faced wool that has been cut on the bias. Welted seams tame the bias. Worn with ribbed tights, kidskin boots, and a wool cap over a silk head scarf.

Left: Philippe Venet back wrap coat in neon yellow brushed wool fleece.
Right: Philippe Venet back wrap coat in cream wool fleece. Has a belt and a slit at the front hem.

OK, I have to comment on these coats. They close in the back. Interesting, but I can just see myself trying to figure out how the heck this was worn if I ever found one of these at an estate. I would more than likely have put it on the mannequin backwards and wondered why it wasn't falling correctly and why the pockets were on the back!

Yves St. Laurent grey wool coat with a flared fit and big silver disc buttons.

Yves St. Laurent black wool coat fitted at the bodice and flaring below the waist. Accented with big gold disc buttons.

Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St. Laurent 1967

An Yves St. Laurent mini dress from 1967 of ivory organdy over pale peach silk, heavily embroidered with shaped geometric pearlized and silver plastic pieces surrounded by rhinestones, silver thread and crystal beads. Sigh.

Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St. Laurent 1970

A theatrical cape of ostrich feathers by Yves St. Laurent for ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire in 1970.

Mondrian as Inspiration

Piet Mondrian: "Kompozicija" 1921

Quick, who designed this dress?

You said Yves St. Laurent, didn't you? Sorry, wrong. This is actually a linen top and skirt by Jr. Sophisticates. The ad appeared in Vogue magazine in April of 1961. 1961?????? But St. Laurent didn't debut his own label until January of 1962!

That's right, my friends. Using Mondrian as an inspiration for fashion was not the original idea of Yves St. Laurent. So, who was the designer at Jr. Sophisticates in 1961? Anne Klein, that's who. She designed an entire group of one and two piece dresses based upon the paintings of Mondrian a full 4 years before St. Laurent's versions made such a splash in Paris.

There is a major difference, though. Klein's top above looks rather blocky and square, rather shapeless. Take a look at the two St. Laurent versions below, from his Fall/Winter 1965/66 collection.

See how the dress curves in gently at the sides to define the waist?

See how there is subtle shaping at the bust? There are no darts, but the dress curves gently over this area.

You can see it better in this photo of the first dress from the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. Instead of piecing flat blocks of fabric and covering the seams with black binding, as it appears was done by Klein, St. Laurent has cut the blocks of color and black strips separately. But the pieces are not squares and rectangles. They actually have odd angles at the edges. The shaping of the garment that would normally be achieved with darts is all cleverly hidden in the seams where one piece joins another. And when those oddly shaped pieces are joined together, they appear as a flat grid as in Mondrian's painting.

That, my friends, is couture.

For more Mondrian inspired fashion, take a look at this site, which was put together several years ago by Snap Dragon. Even Nike has produced Mondrian inspired shoes, shown here.

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Weekend Eye Candy - Yves St Laurent Feather Dress

Fall/Winter 1969-70 collection of Yves St. Laurent. Evening dress of Bird of Paradise feathers.

Yves St. Laurent Dress 1967

An embroidered and beaded mini dress from Yves Saint Laurent's Africa collection for Spring/Summer 1967. The midriff is bare behind a lattice of beads. Click on the image to see details.

Yves Saint Laurent Exhibit

Evening Gown Fall-Winter 1970

San Francisco's de Young Museum is the only US venue for a 40 year retrospective exhibit of the work of Yves Saint Laurent. The exhibit opened on Saturday, November 1 and runs through April 5, 2009. If you live anywhere on the west coast or are traveling there, I urge you to make time to see this important exhibit.

Saint Laurent, who died June 1 of this year, was known for designing the wardrobe basics of modern women's wear - the pantsuit, the pea coat, the safari jacket, and le tuxedo - these pieces have all become timeless classics in women's wardrobes.

Included in the exhibit will be an example of the famous Mondrian dress.

Cocktail Dress Fall-Winter 1965

For more information visit the museum's website at www.deyoungmuseum.org. And why not make a day of it? The de Young is one of my favorite museums in the world. They have an incredible collection, and the setting in Golden Gate Park is simply idyllic.