Yves Saint Laurent

Sotheby's Paris, July 8, 2015, Couture Encounters in Paris: The Didier Ludot Collection, lot 103

Private Collection

Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent, The Complete Works, Haute Couture 1962-2002, Éditions de la Martinière, Paris, 2010, Box 1, Plate 2/7, folio 301

L’Officiel de la Mode, Yves Saint Laurent, Collections 1957-2002, 2500 designs, Special Issue No. 1

This Haute Couture jumpsuit from Yves Saint Laurent’s Spring–Summer 1975 collection stands at the intersection of several defining threads in the designer’s creative history—his reimagining of utility wear, his pioneering role in the liberation of women’s wardrobes, and his enduring fascination with North African and safari-inspired aesthetics.

By 1975, Saint Laurent had firmly established himself as the most influential designer of his generation. Having introduced Le Smoking in 1966 and cemented the tuxedo suit as an emblem of female empowerment, he continued throughout the 1970s to redefine modern dressing through tailored silhouettes that combined rigor with sensual ease. The safari look—first crystallized in his 1967 and 1968 collections and later immortalized by Veruschka in the 1968 Vogue editorial—became a signature YSL archetype: practical in its origins yet elevated through impeccable fabrication and couture-level construction.

This jumpsuit embodies that lineage. The crisp camel gabardine, a fabric Saint Laurent often favored for its structure and versatility, channels both military and safari references while maintaining the impeccable polish expected of Haute Couture. The dual flap pockets and relaxed, pleated trousers nod to functional design, but the elongated lines and refined finishing transform the garment into something urbane and unmistakably Parisian.