When dating this extraordinary Yves Saint Laurent dress, we found a photo of a piece with almost an identical cut bodice from 1972 along with several runway photos that show other pieces with that same cut to the bodice. I have included those here for you and it is interesting to note that the pleating technique that is used around the upper hip of the skirt was also done in a more intricate fashion for the 1974 Couture show. Yves often use ideas from both collections. - Rive Gauche and Couture - to build and develop ideas and it is fascinating to see the progression of his work from garment to garment. This is an incredibly beautiful example of his work from this time period.

This dress combines a floral silk chiffon with a muted red silk on the skirt. This combination is absolutely gorgeous. Is combination of silks give the dress just enough weight and structure to be able to create the impressive lines and volume that you see but while still making it feel soft and romantic. The colours are spectacular. The top is a printed silk chiffon, and it has a stunning floral pattern in red purples and greens that float over the entire bodice and the sleeves. The bodice is cut to skim over you and the waist nips in. It plunges at the front and crosses over itself, and the neckline has been detailed with ruffles that begin at the back of the neck and circle around to follow the V at the front and then run down to the waist. piping in the same fabric detail. The waste and ties have been left off to the side to hang down and create a pretty little detail. The skirt falls to the floor from there and it has yards and yards of fabric in it that creates the fullness and volume that you see. The skirt falls in a gently widening line and is quite full by the time it reaches the hem. I love the volume that this type of fabric creates and how it billows around you as you move but at the same time it is as light as a feather. Around the entire upper hip area, and starting at the waist or a series of tiny cleats that gradually open out to create the volume underneath. This intricate detail is a beautiful addition to the dress. The sleeves are outstanding. Each is a single layer of the silk chiffon and are wide and very full. They are caught up at the wrist with a circle full circle ruffle underneath. This creates a beautiful and dramatic finish to the top. I love everything about this dress. Excellent condition.

Fully lined in a red silk and closes at the back with a hidden set painted met zipper. Attached ties at the waist and elastic in each cuff. The silk skirt and the exterior layer is a tool ruffle that helps keep the volume through the skirt. Tagged a vintage YSL 38. I see some light marks around the hem of the skirt.

Sleeves: 24" and 14" around the upper arm
Slightly inset shoulders: 14"
Bust: to 18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Bodice: 16" from neck to waist
Total length: 60" from waist to hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD4665

Reference Photos: Fall 1972 Yves Saint Laurent.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

The twin of this dress walked the runway for the Fall 1987 show and we have included reference photos of it from the runway for you so that you can see how fabulous it is on the body. We even found one where you can see the model walking back down the runway so you can see how gorgeous it is from the back as well. It is an easy to wear and very chic little YSL.

This is a really gorgeous dress. It is made from a lace fabric that has an unusual blue-purple colour running through it. Metallic thread runs through the lace and then over that are thousands of glossy black sequins that follow the pattern of the lace. The sequins catch the light from every angle but in a subtle way that I love. The lace has an open cut that is lined it with a deep blue silk chiffon. It has a touch of transparency to it but its wearable. This combination also keeps it light so that it feels amazing once on the body. The dress sits off the shoulder to leave a bare expanse of skin across the top. The neckline wraps around the shoulders and it is finished with a pretty black silk organza ruffle. The silk of the ruffles has just enough structure so that it holds its shape perfectly. The sleeves fall to just past the elbow and each is also finished with a ruffle. From there the dress skims over you, running over the bust and past the waist, with no seaming there to break the line. At the top of the hip there is a seam that has another ruffled detailing. The skirt falls under that and widens out as it nears the hem. A final ruffle goes all the way around the edge of the skirt. The back of the skirt is set to hang a touch longer than the front. This gives you a beautiful curve from the side  and adds a touch of pretty volume. It is a gorgeous dress and really showcases Yves' innovative eye and design genius. It appears to have been worn very little if at all. Excellent condition

Fully lined in a dark blue silk chiffon. It closes at the side with a zipper. Tagged a YSL 42.

Sleeves: approx 18" from the drop and 12" around the upper arm
Bust: to 18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: to 15" flat across from side seam to side seam
Seam across the top of the hips: 19.5" flat across from side seam to side seam and open under that
Length: 30" from top of centre neckline to front hem and 36" to back hem including top and bottom ruffle

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD4271

Reference Photos: Fall 1987 Yves Saint Laurent Runway.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

The twin of this dress walked the runway as Look 53vfor the Spring 1983 Haute Couture collection. It was shown under a jacket initially and then the jacket was removed. I love that this shows you how versatile these little dresses can be. We also found the fabric noted in a WWD editorial and then I looked into my folio collection book and found the model number and original sketch for you to see. I have included all these reference photos for you here and it gives you a beautiful idea of how fabulous this is once on the body. The dress is gorgeous and Yves always cut his couture pieces so perfectly. It really is a beautiful piece and owning a piece of his couture work is always one of the ultimate vintage acquisitions.

The dress is amazing and showcases how wonderful Yves Saint Laurent could cut a dress to flatter a woman's body. It is made entirely by hand and the silk has the tiniest ribbed texture running through it. The top is cut to skim over you and blouse over the waist. The shoulders have light padding just at their outer edges to slightly extend them outward. They are set into the bodice with gathers so that they slightly pouf above the shoulder line. The sleeves are slim and pouf out just slightly as they slim down to the zippered cuffs. The neckline is set wide across the collarbones and edged in a black silk band. The waist is seamed and we have added a black grosgrain ribbon there for shape. You can add a belt instead if you wanted a really cinched in look. The skirt falls under that in a simple pencil to just about the knee or above depending on your height. There are hidden set pockets along each hip. The colour of the silk is the best thing about the dress. It is a mix of a bright pink, green, blue and a deep purple set in a large floral design that runs over the entire dress. It is so pretty. Truly a brilliant dress and when you see it in person you will fall in love with how good it is in person. And it is just so good on the body. A masterpiece. Excellent condition.

Unlined through the bodice and lined in a black silk through the skirt. All the work is done by hand to Haute Couture standards. It closes with a back zipper and two buttons at the back of the neck. An inner waist stay hooks to close. Each cuff has a hand set hidden set zipper to close. Light padding in each shoulder as described above. Completely made by hand. Proper Haute Couture numbered label present. The grosgrain ribbon is not original to the dress but will be sent with it.

Sleeves: 22" and 13.75" around the upper arm
Slightly wide set shoulders: 16"
Bust: to 21" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: 12.5-13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 21" flat across from side seam to side seam
Bodice: 16" from top of shoulder to waist but mean to blouse a bit
Total length: 38" from top of shoulder to hem with 2" turned under

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-SML

Item# DD4642

Reference Photos: (1-4) Spring 1983 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Runway.  /  (5-7) Spring 1983 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture Advance Preview.  /  (8) Womens Wear Daily, February 1983.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

This fantastic cape is from the Fall 1976 collection and several versions of it were produced that season including this deep purple one. We have included photos from the runway pieces here and we also found an ad campaign shot with its twin in what looks to be a lighter colour and included that for you to see as well. I personally have several versions of his capes myself and have worn them countless times. It is literally the perfect thing to pop over a dress at night time. It is a very versatile and so easy to wear piece.

The cape is in a very beautiful deep purple combined with a more maroon coloured edging. The fabric is a high end wool that has a little bit of weight just due to the sheer amount of it in the cape but is still comfortable and easy-to-wear. This is one of those effortless pieces that is easy to make a part of your wardrobe. You just slip it over your shoulders and it drapes in place. A slightly oversized hood extends out from the neck and this added addition of the hood adds the perfect amount of detail and drama. A flat blue braided rope finished all the edges and I love the elaborate braided knot that closes it in place at the neck. A long fringed tassel sits on either side of that closure for added drama and an even longer tassel dangles down from the hood at the back. I love the bit of movement these create when you move. There is a ton of fabric in the body of the cape so that when you move you get wonderful movement as it floats and billows around you. The cut is impeccable and it is a great piece of YSL's fashion history. Excellent condition with a small note below

Unlined and drapes over the shoulder to wear with a knot closure at the neck as seen. The occasional graze to the surface. The easy open cut should allow fit just about any size

Length: 58" from shoulder to hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: OSFA

Item# DD4637

Reference Photos: Fall 1976 Yves Saint Laurent.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

"I have chosen today to say goodbye to the craft that I have loved so much. The next show to which I invite you, on Tuesday, 22nd January at 6 PM, at the centre of George's Pompano, will predominantly be a retrospective of my work… Some designs from the currencies will also be shown." This was how Yves the announced his intention to retire and leave the world of Haute Couture. That final show was over an hour long and was presented to a room of 1500 hand picked guests. To tell the story of his decades long career there was a total of 371 garments shown that day. The presentation began at the beginning of his career and the show was a full retrospective of his work that showed a highlight of all of his creations through the decades. There were also a small group of 11 new items for the 2002 season included about 2/3rds of the way into the show created as the Spring 2002 couture collection. All were pieces that were based on dresses from the past but done in new colours. They were all made of weightless chiffons and were in a variety of colours. This blending of past and present further evoked the idea of his journey and how his designs are truly timeless no matter when they were made. The twin of this black dress was included in that grouping and it is based on the green dress we have included a reference photo of for you here from the Spring 1991 collection. I love it even more in its black version. The dress has its own special couture tag that commemorates it as being a part of this final show. It is an extremely rare and wonderful piece.

This dress is stunning. It has a strapless bodice that is fitted perfectly to hold the dress on the body and then it falls from there to the floor in layers of weightless black silk chiffon. The silk of the bodice is gathered and set vertically and inside the bodice there is a full inner built-in corset that is shaped and seamed so the dress stays perfectly in place once on. A wide band of silk wraps underneath the breasts to the waist and there is a sash that ties in a soft bow off to one side. The ends of the sash trail all the way down the side to the floor and this helps to add to the beautiful movement this dress has once on. Below the beautiful shape through the bodice the skirt falls to the floor in a soft cascade of silk chiffon. The. side of the skirt that opens is slightly longer than the other and this is a clever way to give that side of the skirt even more movement. These are the tiny details in Couture that make a dress move the exact perfect way. The innermost layer of silk chiffon is set all the way around you and then the other layers of the skirt are set over this and slit right up to where the waistband meets the top of the skirt on that side. So when you walk and move you are covered by that single layer of silk chiffon underneath but you are still bare underneath the transparency of the chiffon. You can see this clearly in the video as the model walks. It is very sexy. The layers and open side of the skirt combined with the trailing ties from the waist are then what allow the dress to move so beautifully around you when you move. It is  absolutely perfect in every way. The workmanship is beautiful and the dress appears to have never been worn or worn very little. What a joy to have such an important dress from Yves very last collection. Excellent condition.

Bust: 15.5-16" flat across from side seam to side seam with an A-B cup
Seam under the bust: 14.25" flat across from side seam to side seam 
Inner waist: 12-13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Bodice: 4.75" from top of bodice to seam under the bodice
Total length: 51" from top of bodice to shortest part of the hem, 54" to the longest

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XXS-XS

Item# DD4624

Reference Photos/Video: (1-3) Spring 2002 Yves Saint Laurent Couture, Look 240.  /  (4) From the book “Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture: CATWALK”  /  (5-6) Spring 1991 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture. 

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

Jean Paul Gaultier's illustrious career spans decades. His first show was in 1976 and his avant garde designs quickly gained him the reputation of being fashion's 'l'enfant terrible'. His designs mixed cultures with abandon, gender norms were blurred through his pieces and the body was presented encased in ways unimaginable prior to his brilliant vision. In 1997 he entered the sanctified world of Haute Couture and for just over two decades produced stunning work cumulating with his final show for Spring 2020. His pieces of couture rarely come to market and I am very pleased to have this unbelievably beautiful ensemble. This was look 33 for the Fall 2001 Haute Couture presentation entitled 'China and Spain'. For this season Gaultier combined elements from those two countries in a beautiful homage. Pieces from this collection were featured in the The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk exhibit of 2013 and to have a piece available for purchase is almost as rare as being able to have bought it as a couture client in the first place. After the show Gaultier said of this collection “I wanted to do something more sensual than sexy. The idea was to bring together everything that you imagine when you think of China and Spain—theater, movement, color, history and richness.” The twin of this look was worn by Alec Wek on the runway with a huge red bib neckpiece over the top. We believe that this may have been the only piece ever produced beyond the runway set. 

It is extraordinary to think that Jean Paul Gaultier has only produced a Haute Couture line for two short decades given his long career. Like most Haute Couture, this is a set that only truly comes to life when it is on an actual body and the reference photos and video show you just how amazing it is on. The pants are a work of art. They are heavy and densely beaded with glass tube beads in tightly spaced rows to cover every inch of the pants. Worked in and among the sequins are brilliantly coloured hand embroidered flowers. These trail over the pants and wrap around the legs. The work to place each of these beads individually and do the embroidery would have taken hundreds of hours to complete. They are cut with a flat front and straight leg that gets a touch wider by the hem. When you the light catches the beads and the colours of the embroidered flowers is fantastic. The top is made out of a fine black silk jersey. It closes with a complex mix of a hidden zipper front and two separate areas of silk covered snaps and hooks. It wraps around the body and drapes down one side. The collar is high and you can see the nod to China within its shape. Each sleeve is incredibly long and they are meant to be pushed up to create a row of rounded gathers forming around the entire lower part of the arm. I love the long trailing panel of the silk jersey set on one hip. It falls over that pant on that side to the floor. It is meant to have a nod to the trade de luces cape, which is part of the traditional clothing that Spanish bullfighters wear. It is a brilliant piece of Haute Couture and is everything you want to see in a Haute Couture piece. It appears to have never been worn or worn very little. Excellent condition. 

The upper portion of the top is lined in silk and it zips to close at the inside front. A jersey panel wraps over this and closes with a series of silk covered snaps and hook & eye along the side near the neck. More hook & eye sits along the waist and hip area on that same side. The pants are fully lined in a silk and close with a hand set zipper. Made by hand to Haute Couture standards. Proper Couture tags on both pieces.

Top
Sleeves: 45.5" and push up to wear
Shoulders: 15"
Bust: to 19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Interior waist: to 13" flat across from side seam to side seam, inner waist stay hooks at 14"
Hips: open
Length: 29" from neck to shortest point of the front side, 37" to longest point of the back
Hip swag: 47" from waist to longest point of the hem

Pant
Waist: 13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: 19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Length: 42" from top of bodice to waist
Inseam: 30" from inner seam to hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD3581

Reference Photos/Video: Alek Wek for Fall 2001 Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Collection.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

This dress is from the Cruise 2006 collection and it is extraordinary. For this show Karl Lagerfeld invited his guess to the Place de la Concorde. He had a fleet of green vintage buses adorned with Chanel logos and these transported his guests on a ride through Paris. Models paraded down the aisle among the passengers and at scheduled stops they would switch buses so that everyone saw the entire collection. Karl said at the time that he 'used to love riding the bus in Paris as a school boy' and that was the inspiration behind the idea of the show. Lagerfeld wanted the collection to be lighthearted and easy and to be a tribute to Paris. I love it.

The dress is feather light which almost feels like a surprise when you pick it up given the sheer amount of detailing on it. It is covered in hundreds of large iridescent paillettes but these are also feather light. It feels like you are wearing a cloud of silk once it is on the body. The silk tulle netting base is so light and so fine that it feels like magic. The tulle is a deep blue colour and the entire dress is made out of two layers of it with an inner silk chiffon layer. It falls from the shoulders with straps that curve up and around you. It is scooped at the front and again at the back for an almost tank tee style top. The bodice skims over you and there are built in rounded cups inside to add a touch of coverage over the breasts. The top layer of tulle on the bodice overlaps into place around the waist and a border of the sequins are placed stacked side by side all around the waist. The same dense sequin detail circles the neckline and covers the straps and goes around each arm. It flows past the waist and skims over the hips. On the lower part of the skirt there are built in long triangle shaped insets of the tulle that set all the way around the skirt. I love this nod to the old Hollywood dresses of the 1930s and they give the lower part of the dress tremendous movement and volume when you move. The paillettes that cover the dress are the most striking part of all. They are soft muted iridescent pastels that range from gold to pink. Each individual oversized sequin has a beautiful ombre effect and a muted metallic finish. Besides the borders around the waist and neck they cover the bodice and trail down and into the skirt to the hem between those inset panels. So when you move you get this fantastic contrast. The dress came with a matching shawl made of the same tulle. It's huge size lets you wear it almost like a cape over your shoulders. It is so light in weight and fine that you could also wrap it around your neck, use it as a head scarf, or as a turban. This is a phenomenal piece if Chanel. No matter how good it looks on the dress form nothing will prepare you for the way it feels when you have it in hand. Excellent condition

Fully lined in a blue silk chiffon and it closes with a back hidden set zipper. It appears to have been worn very little if at all.  The bias cut tulle does give it a bit of range in size. Current Chanel silk chiffon dresses with this level of added embellishments and detailing are retailing for $10000USD and over. Tagged is Chanel 40

Bust: 16-18" flat across from side seam to side seam
Waist: to 16" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: to 23" flat across from side seam to side seam
Length: 60" from top of shoulder to hem
Scarf: 68" x 74"

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD4385

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

This top is from the second last ready-to-wear collection that Thierry Mugler presented. It is from the Spring 2001 season and it is an absolutely outstanding piece. It's twin walked the runway that season and I am very happy to have photos and video for reference for you to be able to see how phenomenal this sits on the body. He experimented with materials that included leather and netting as you see in this piece and the appearance of these wide angel sleeves were of note. I've only ever seen one other piece of this available that was done in a different colour from the runway piece like this one is in it's a phenomenal collectors piece

The top is made out of a brown silk net that has those wonderful, leather pieces, hand sewn into place onto the netting. These are set to follow the design of the top. It wraps over itself at the front and ties at the waist, and you can tie it to the side, the back the front however you wish. The ties are extremely long and they are detailed with those little oblong pieces of leather in different sizes laid out to follow the cut of each tide. More leather curves down to follow the shape of the neckline at the front and go all the way across to the sides of the top. They curve up and over to the back where they come down in a little angled point there. The sleeves are as phenomenal as those long front ties. Each one ends in an extremely wide angel shape and is cut extra long. Again the little leather pieces have been applied to follow the shape of the sleeve and some go all the way up almost to the shoulder. I love how some are left to hang over the edge of the top on each sleeve. It just has that little extra bit of genius dimension. It is just outstanding. Excellent condition

Unlined and wraps to close. Tagged a vintage Mugler 38.

Sleeves: approx 27-28" and 13-16" around the upper arm
Shoulders: no defined seams
Bust: to 18" flat across from side seam to side seam but can b adjusted up and down a but when tying
Waist-bottom seam: adjustable
Length: 19" from neck to hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XS-MED

Item# DD4635

Reference Photos/Video: Spring 2001 Thierry Mugler.

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

This dress is not 100% perfect and that is why it is not double or triple the listed price. It is without a doubt one of the most iconic pieces ever created during Tom Ford's tenure at Gucci. I love it. Its twin was Look 40 on the runway and we have included runway photos and video for you to see how beautifully this moves once on the body. In Vogue's review of the show they said that "This season every major designer is talking about creating a "beauty" strong enough to defy our anxious times. Backstage that was the word Tom Ford used to characterize his Fall collection for Gucci—a collection in which beauty was personified as a power vixen extravagantly armoured to face down a troubled world" The evening pieces were mentioned specifically "For evening, there were gowns constructed with cutout zones of sparkling mesh and frilled bra tops; others snaked to the floor, held in place with complex asymmetric straps crossing the torso and shoulders. If Ford is treading the territory mapped out by Thierry Mugler and Azzedine Alaïa in the ’80s, it’s no surprise. Much of fashion is heading in that direction >anyway, and Ford, after all, bases Gucci’s entire brand proposition on finding new ways of upping the ante on sex season after season." This is a dress from one of the most incredible eras of Gucci.

The dress is made out of a pastel dusty pink silk with a matte satin finish. It is instantly recognizable as being a Gucci from this era. The bodice is heavily detailed. It has been top stitched across the corseted bodice and I love how this is all set on angles in between the grommet detailed edges that sit in between the top-stitched portions. It curves across the top of the bust and then there is boning and shaping and a built-in cupped corset inside to hold you in place. At the sides you have two wide panels of the silk that extend out and wrap around the neck and then crisscross over the bare upper back. The waist curves in and all of the shaping is created by the curved seaming that you see. A wide partial strap sits on each side of the waist and snaps into place to give the illusion of being buckled in even further. The grommets are all brass coloured and add the perfect contrast to that dusty pastel pink. The corset angles down deep in the front and back in that signature Tom Ford sexiness. From there the silk skims over the hips and then falls to the floor where it widens out beautifully. The back is cut longer than the front for a slight train effect at the back. The seaming that runs along the skirt picks up on the seaming of the bodice and again grommets detail all of that. All of the seams are set on curves that help to add to the curving of the body. It is astonishingly beautiful. It presents as great condition but does have some minor flaws. Please see the notes below.

The bodice is fully lined in the same silk fabric as the exterior with an added built-in wired cup piece at the inner front. It closes with the exposed zipper that you see at the back. The pieces that wrap around your shoulders slip on when you put the dress on. The skirt is unlined. The side pieces at the waist each snap into place at the back. I see grubbiness and marks on the interior edge of the bodice and a mark on the inner cup. The inner stuffing of the bodice has degraded so it feels like loose pieces inside the cups. I see a repair on the skirt at about mid thigh on the centre front, one on the side of the back at about the very top of the thigh and another invisible tape repair below the one on the front. There are some slight scuff and marks on the skirt here and there and I have photoed the ones that show the most. There is a mark near the arm on the bodice. It presents extremely well once on but does have these small flaws. Please see the photos after the label shot. Tagged a Gucci 42. The fabric of the skirt has some stretch and the dress is in its original uncut length.

Waist: to 13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: 14.5-19" flat across from side seam to side seam
Total length: 68" from top of bodice to front hem, 75" to the back hem

Modern Sizing Equivalent: SML-MED

Item# DD4626

Reference Photos/Video: Fall 2003 Gucci Runway, Look 40 (Adina Fohlin)

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.

"I have chosen today to say goodbye to the craft that I have loved so much. The next show to which I invite you, on Tuesday, 22nd January at 6 PM, at the centre of George's Pompano, will predominantly be a retrospective of my work… Some designs from the currencies will also be shown." This was how Yves the announced his intention to retire and leave the world of Haute Couture. That final show was over an hour long and was presented to a room of 1500 hand picked guests. To tell the story of his decades long career there was a total of 371 garments shown that day. The presentation began at the beginning of his career and the show was a full retrospective of his work that showed a highlight of all of his creations through the decades. There were also a small group of 11 new items for the 2002 season included about 2/3rds of the way into the show created as the Spring 2002 couture collection. All were pieces that were based on dresses from the past but done in new colours. They were all made of weightless chiffons and were in a variety of colours. This blending of past and present further evoked the idea of his journey and how his designs are truly timeless no matter when they were made. The twin of this black dress was included in that grouping and it is based on the green dress we have included a reference photo of for you here from the Spring 1991 collection. I love it even more in its black version. The dress has its own special couture tag that commemorates it as being a part of this final show. It is an extremely rare and wonderful piece.

This dress is stunning. It has a strapless bodice that is fitted perfectly to hold the dress on the body and then it falls from there to the floor in layers of weightless black silk chiffon. The silk of the bodice is gathered and set vertically and inside the bodice there is a full inner built-in corset that is shaped and seamed so the dress stays perfectly in place once on. A wide band of silk wraps underneath the breasts to the waist and there is a sash that ties in a soft bow off to one side. The ends of the sash trail all the way down the side to the floor and this helps to add to the beautiful movement this dress has once on. Below the beautiful shape through the bodice the skirt falls to the floor in a soft cascade of silk chiffon. The. side of the skirt that opens is slightly longer than the other and this is a clever way to give that side of the skirt even more movement. These are the tiny details in Couture that make a dress move the exact perfect way. The innermost layer of silk chiffon is set all the way around you and then the other layers of the skirt are set over this and slit right up to where the waistband meets the top of the skirt on that side. So when you walk and move you are covered by that single layer of silk chiffon underneath but you are still bare underneath the transparency of the chiffon. You can see this clearly in the video as the model walks. It is very sexy. The layers and open side of the skirt combined with the trailing ties from the waist are then what allow the dress to move so beautifully around you when you move. It is  absolutely perfect in every way. The workmanship is beautiful and the dress appears to have never been worn or worn very little. What a joy to have such an important dress from Yves very last collection. Excellent condition.

Bust: 15.5-16" flat across from side seam to side seam with an A-B cup
Seam under the bust: 14.25" flat across from side seam to side seam 
Inner waist: 12-13" flat across from side seam to side seam
Hips: open
Bodice: 4.75" from top of bodice to seam under the bodice
Total length: 51" from top of bodice to shortest part of the hem, 54" to the longest

Modern Sizing Equivalent: XXS-XS

Item# DD4624

Reference Photos/Video: (1-3) Spring 2002 Yves Saint Laurent Couture, Look 240.  /  (4) From the book “Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture: CATWALK”  /  (5-6) Spring 1991 Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture. 

All items are thoroughly checked over before shipping. Unless noted everything in our shop has been professionally cleaned. All sales are final. Overseas clients will be emailed to obtain agreement to our final sales policy before the order is shipped as per our return policy.