1979
Stage Costumes for Ingrid Caven

In the 1970s, Yves Saint Laurent first noticed Ingrid Caven, a German actress filming in Paris, and they quickly became friends. Saint Laurent thought she would be good for the role of the Queen in Jean Cocteau’s L’Aigle à Deux Têtes (The Eagle with Two Heads), but she did not get along with the director and abandoned the project.

Over lunch at the Plaza Athénée, [Pierre Bergé] asked me what I wanted to do. I told him, ‘I want to sing in Paris, with whom I want to, the way I want to.’ Pierre said yes.

Ingrid Caven, cited in “La Diva et le Couturier,” Libération, September 6, 2008.

Thus began preparations for a concert at Pigall’s, produced by Pierre Bergé. Saint Laurent designed a skintight black satin dress with a plunging neckline in the back.