A richly embroidered jacket by Yves Saint Laurent, inspired by Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers", was sold at auction Wednesday for 382,000 euros (S$574,000), a record for a garment from the celebrated French designer.
The jacket, which was once modelled on the catwalk by supermodel Naomi Campbell, fetched more than double its expected price at the Christie's sale. It was bought by the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.
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The bright yellow and orange jacket took haute couture embroiderers Maison Lesage more than 600 hours to stitch by hand, according to the Yves Saint Laurent museum's website. It was part of Saint Laurent's 1988 Spring/Summer collection. Only four of the sequined jackets, which are lined with silk, were ever made.
Saint Laurent's 1988 collection also featured an equally detailed jacket honouring another flower-themed van Gogh canvas, "Irises".
[caption id="attachment_739180" align="alignnone" width="585"] The Van Gogh-inspired garments. (Photo credit: Yves Saint Laurent)[/caption]
The blue and purple garment was auctioned for 175,500 euros (S$264,000) -- four times the guide price -- in January out of the closet of Lebanese-born entrepreneur Mouna Ayoub, one of the world's richest women.
"I have always been fascinated by painting, so it was only natural that it should inspire my creations," the designer wrote in a catalogue for a 2004 Paris exhibition.
Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008, aged 71.
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