Just as I promised, today we will be viewing the earlier works of Yves Saint Laurent in an effort to honor his memory. While “Le Smoking” is without a doubt his most recognizable creation he is responsible for so much more. In fact he even made a cone bra, you know the ones Madonna used to wear in the 90’s, in the 1960’s. Most think that a young Jean Paul Gaultier was thinking independently when he was actually just borrowing inspiration from one of the greats.

African or “tribal” inspiration’s are quite common now in collections year round, however back in the 1960’s this was not the case. This was the time that Yves Saint Laurent left the house of Christian Dior in pursuit of his own  design house. Being exposed to life in Africa at an early age, Yves was enamored with the colors and patterns. Consequently he chose to use many African prints in his early work. The dress pictured above is actually made of  hundreds of wooden beads woven into the elaborate and obviously African motif that you see before you. I’m crazy about this dress because it could still easily be worn today and no one would even think twice about it being vintage. Although the fact that it is vintage does make it all the better.

Sheer fabrics may not be unusual today but that is all thanks to our beloved Yves Saint Laurent. Back in the 1960’s Yves came out with the first sheer dress designed to be worn on the day to day. The sheer fabric being used in a causal way was a whole new idea at that time because not only were women supposed to be demure and quite they definitely were not supposed to be showing skin that should otherwise be concealed by opaque fabrics. The tides were changing and Yves gave us a garment to wear throughout these turbulent times. I don’t think I would be brave enough to wear this sheer dress and the feather at the waist really do nothing for me. Regardless I am still appreciative that Yves had the guts to push fashion in a new peek-a-boo direction.

Last but certainly not least, we see above a photo of Yves Saint Laurent’s interpretation of Piet Mondrian’s work. With this simple shift dress Yves reminded us that fashion was also art and vice versa. The use of Mondrian’s geometric abstraction was spread through several dresses in his 1960’s collections.  Saint Laurent had a deep appreciation for art and more specifically pop art. This love would echo through his collections for years to come until his last couture show in 2002 in Paris.

For those of you who were unfamiliar with the works of Yves Saint Laurent, I hope I have shed some light on the man behind the name. His name is recognizable around the globe but few of us really take the time to give him credit for enormous contribution to fashion over the span of his career. Though he may not be present physically anymore the legacy of Yves Saint Laurent will indeed live on.