Rating and value of Yves Saint Laurent's fashion drawings

If you own a work by Saint Laurent, and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers will offer you their appraisal services. Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value. Then, if you wish to sell your property, we will guide you towards the best possible means of obtaining the optimum price. The price of a fashion drawing can vary depending on the year, the collection concerned, or the creation in question.

Rating and value of a work by Yves Saint Laurent

Drawings and works by Yves Saint Laurent are treasures of haute couture and objets d'art that bear witness to the designer's talent and the history of fashion. The price at which they sell on the art and auction market ranges from €1,000 to €9,750, a considerable delta but one that speaks volumes about the value that can be attributed to your drawings and objets d'art. In 2018, a lot of three drawings dating from 1960 sold for €9,750, exceeding the high estimate by over 1,900%.

Order of value from a classic drawing to the most sought-after

Reasons to sell a fashion drawing or Yves Saint Laurent creation  

A fashion drawing is a testimony to the history of a fashion house, part of the evolution of stylistic creation. These are rare pieces, at the origin of collections that have often marked the history of fashion. For a couturier, the drawing is often the starting point of the creation  the artist's vision is put down on paper for the first time. It allows the genius to take shape and be visualized, so that the garment can be born. These works in their own right are highly prized at auction and sought after by many collectors.

In Saint Laurent's case, they are the beginnings of his greatest creations : Mondrian dress, saharienne, tuxedo.

Saint Laurent, from tuxedos to Marrakech

Yves Matthieu Saint Laurent (1936-2008), was a French couturier born in Oran, French Algeria. His mother passed on to him her passion for haute-couture and fashion.  He spent his entire youth there, moving to Paris to study at the Parisian chambre syndicale de la couture school, before working at Dior. Michel de Brunhoff, then director of Vogue France, introduced him to Christian Dior, who hired him as an assistant. A possessor of innate talent, he succeeded him as head of the fashion house after his death. At just 21, his Trapèze collection for Dior was a resounding success. He was dismissed from the House of Dior following a breakdown in 1960.

Two years earlier, he met Pierre Bergé, with whom he would live for the rest of his life. He was to help him in the venture of a lifetime, the Yves Saint Laurent house. Mark Robinson, an American billionaire, financially supports the creation of the house. Cassandre designs the logo, the premises are set up rue Spontini, where the first collection is presented. Most notably, he is credited with the women's tuxedo and the trouser suit, a major fashion innovation taken up by many fashion houses after him. He opens his Saint Laurent rive gauche boutique, with the aim of not only dressing the Parisian elite by offering ready-to-wear. Like Erté, he also made costumes for ballet and theater.

In 1974, the house moved to avenue Marceau, where the current Yves Saint Laurent museum is located. The couturier perceived clothing as a tribute, drawing inspiration from Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, and many others. The Mondrian dresses, presented in 1966, particularly illustrate this part of his work.

Morocco inspired the Saharan, but it was also there that he went to design his collections twice a year. He bought the Majorelle garden with Pierre Bergé in 1980.

His last fashion show, a retrospective of his work, took place at the Centre Pompidou in 2002.

He died in 2008 at his home on rue de Babylone of brain cancer. He was 72 years old, and his funeral was held in front of one of his boutiques in Saint Roch.

Saint Laurent's imprint on fashion history

Yves Saint Laurent leaves a colossal legacy in fashion history. He had a considerable influence on many 20th-century fashion houses.

Today, his work continues to be celebrated, with the former premises of his fashion house now a museum in honor of his work. Many prestigious museums devoted solo exhibitions to him during his lifetime, including the MET in New York in 1983.

The success of Yves Saint Laurent's works at auction 

In recent years, haute couture has experienced a golden age it has rarely known. Saint Laurent's designs particularly represent this appeal. World-famous today, he exerted a considerable influence on twentieth-century fashion.  Drawings made by the couturier's hand bear witness to his stylistic identity and unique elegance, and allow fashion enthusiasts and collectors to plunge once again into the refined, elegant world of the French designer.

Recognizing an original fashion drawing

A fashion drawing is a work of art in its own right. Some of them are signed and can sometimes be used to identify their author. It is also possible to identify an original by comparison with the designer's other productions.

Know the value of your design

If you happen to own a work by Yves Saint Laurent, or think you might, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal using the form on our website. A member of our team of experts and chartered auctioneers will contact you promptly with an estimate of the market value of your bag, and will provide you with all the relevant information. If you wish to sell your bag, you will also be accompanied by our specialists in order to benefit from alternatives to sell it at the best possible price, taking into account the inclinations of the market.