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 design can vary according to the year, the collection concerned, or the creation in question.

Cote et valeur d'une œuvre de Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent drawings and works of art are haute couture treasures 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 classic to most popular design

Reasons to sell a fashion design or an Yves Saint Laurent creation  

A fashion drawing is a testimony to the history of a fashion house, and is part of the evolution of stylistic creation. They 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 were the precursors of his greatest creations: the Mondrian dress, the saharienne, the tuxedo.

Saint Laurent, tuxedos in Marrakech

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

Two years earlier, he met Pierre Bergé, with whom he would live for the rest of his life. Bergé was to help him in the venture of a lifetime, the House of Yves Saint Laurent. Mark Robinson, an American billionaire, provides financial backing for the creation of the house. Cassandre designed the logo, and the premises were set up on rue Spontini, where the first collection was presented. He was responsible for the women's tuxedo and the pantsuit, a major fashion innovation taken up by many fashion houses after him. He opened his Saint Laurent boutique on the Left Bank, with the aim of not only dressing the Parisian elite, but also offering ready-to-wear. Like Erté, he also designed costumes for ballet and theater.

In 1974, the company moved to Avenue Marceau, where the present-day Yves Saint Laurent Museum is located. The couturier saw clothing as a tribute, drawing inspiration from Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso and many others. The Mondrian dresses, presented in 1966, are a particular example of this part of his work.

Morocco inspired the Saharan, but it was also there that he went to design his collections twice a year. Together with Pierre Bergé, he bought the Majorelle garden 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 the rue de Babylone of brain cancer. He was 72, and his funeral was held in front of one of his stores 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, and the former premises of his fashion house are 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 are particularly representative of this appeal. World-famous today, he exerted a considerable influence on twentieth-century fashion. The designer's hand-drawn sketches bear witness to his unique stylistic identity and elegance, and enable fashion enthusiasts and collectors to plunge once again into the refined, elegant world of the French designer.

Recognizing an original fashion design

A fashion drawing is a work of art in its own right. Some of them are signed, making it possible to identify the designer. 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 you 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, our specialists will also be on hand to offer you alternatives for selling it at the best possible price, taking into account market trends.