Gloves

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche|Yves Saint Laurent|Yves Saint Laurent

1984–85 · leather · Costume Institute

Yves Saint Laurent's final collection for Dior in 1960 embodied the feeling of Rive Gauche, or the Left Bank of Paris. Although it was not a success, the collection marked a turning point in Saint Laurent's career and details from that collection returned again and again as signature elements in Saint Laurent's own couture line and in his ready-to-wear collections. One such detail was the use of crocodile and alligator skins or printed textile versions. These gloves from Rive Gauche are a refined and luxe replication of an alligator skin. In a lesser example, the pattern might be embossed on inexpensive leather, but here it is printed with gold pigment, making the gloves an example of tromp l'oeil textile design was well as a high style accessory.

Artist

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche|Yves Saint Laurent|Yves Saint Laurent

Date

1984–85

Medium

leather

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Yves Saint Laurent, 1987