Medium: Silver snakeskin with black suede

Date: 1977

Country: France

Credit: Gift of Arthur Schwartz

Retro styles were popular throughout the 1970s. Yves Saint Laurent’s “gangster suit” for women, with broad, padded shoulders and pronounced stripes, was perfectly in keeping with high-heeled oxfords and a fedora worn at a rakish angle. The desire for retro continued into the 1980s, when many businessmen adopted suspenders and classic ties to go with their “power suits.”

Object Number: 79.169.8