November 26, 2019: Inspired by and a tribute to Vincent van Gogh, Yves Saint Laurent’s Sunflower jacket has seen much praise. Now up for auction by Christie’s. The jacket is estimated to be sold anywhere between €80,000 to 120,000 on November 27, 2019.
On the occasion of his Spring-Summer 1988 Collection, which was paying tribute to the great masters and here more specifically to van Gogh, the great fashion designer conceived two jackets inspired by the artist’s favorite patterns: Irises and Sunflowers.
Van Gogh was influenced by Japonism, as would be Yves Saint Laurent later on. This movement, born during the 1867 Universal Exhibition, inspired the painter considerably. Indeed, the golden-brown nuances of Japanese prints and the bright colors of the South of France resulted in the creation of his Sunflowers series.
The jacket is specifically inspired by van Gogh’s ‘Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers’, one of his last paintings and the last one of the seven paintings series to be sold on the market. This work, which was the most expensive art piece ever auctioned in 1987, (£29 million, which now equals to around £62 million), revealed the painting to the public and inspired Yves Saint Laurent who, the following year, dedicated this Haute Couture masterpiece to the master.
This magnificent jacket with a yellow organza background entirely embroidered with glass beads, sequins, rockeries and ribbons, lined with yellow silk satin, of incredible delicacy, is the result of the exceptional savoir-faire of one of the greatest embroidery houses in the world: Maison Lesage.
More than 600 hours of work were necessary to create this jacket’s multiple nuances and details, making it one of the Haute Couture’s greatest achievements. Therefore, it counts among the most exceptional designer pieces in the world.
Apart from the Sunflowers jacket worn by Naomi Campbell on the runway in 1988, currently in the collections of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, not more than four copies have been made.
