Yves Saint Laurent: 10 Most Definitive Collections
8. 1967 - African Collection
Following on from debuting the Smoking trouser suit, Saint-Laurent created a collection housing the Smoking suit with waistcoat and African influenced dresses. Wool and gabardine trench coats, pinstriped suits and navy blue dresses with white pique collars appeared ripe for the intrepid 1960s explorer. A piece from the collection that became a house staple is the Safari jacket, with breast and waist pockets and corseted lace-up front. Safari trekking has never looked so sexy. Heavy African inspired ensembles made in black wood and jet beads embroidered onto a jet-black silk organza dress, with appliquéd plastic geometric shapes. The collection became somewhat polarizing within the fashion world, with two eight inch pointed bras crafted in plastic and adorned in beads causing the friction. Something that would influence Jean Paul Gaultier some 20 years later. Harpers Bazaar at the time hailed the collection a fantasy of a primitive genius.
