This silk blouse with ruffles from Saint Laurent was owned by Leonie Koenitz, who was one of the first fashion models trained in Singapore at Joan Booty and Ruth Warner's Mannequin Training and Charm School, which opened in 1956. Saint Laurent Rive Gauche by the French designer Yves Saint Laurent was the first ready-to-wear line launched by a couture house, when the label was founded in 1966. Couture designers were up till then confined to working within the traditions and expectations of the French haute couture system, and Saint Laurent's naming of the label (meaning "left bank" in English) signified the modernity and progressiveness he wanted to associate with the ready-to-wear line. Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, the Rive Gauche line experimented with different styles and silhouettes that took reference from the clothing of other cultures such as Russia and China. It was also a forerunner in producing functional separates for women, allowing customers to create and style their own looks.