Fashion beatnik outfit
Designed by Yves Saint Laurent for Dior, Paris, Autumn/Winter 1963-64

Saint Laurent was fascinated by the beatnik culture of Left Bank intellectuals. Associated with the Existentialists of the 1940s and 1950s, they typically wore polo necks, slacks and leather jackets in moody black. Saint Laurent's first collection for Dior in 1960 featured similar outfits. He called it 'the first important definition of my style'.
This jacket and balaclava are made of black cire. Underneath is a studded suede tunic. Saint Laurent selected this outfit from his private museum in Paris to lend to the Streetstyle Exhibition, held at the V&A in 1994.