Saint Laurent has bought a 4,000 piece collection of the brand's own vintage clothing.

The brand and its creative director Anthony Vaccarello purchased designer Olivier Châtenet's complete collection of vintage Saint Laurent, which includes pieces designed between 1966 and 1985 and is mainly comprised of items from the Saint Laurent Rive Gauche ready-to-wear label.

Vaccarello said in a statement: ''Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent established an extremely valuable heritage which is an endless source of inspiration.''

Items from the collection include dresses, suits, coats, knitwear, shoes, accessories and some haute couture outfits.

One of the most exciting pieces from the collection is a beaded dress that formerly belonged to the Duchess of Windsor.

Explaining why he decided to sell the collection, Châtenet told WWD: ''I like the idea of this collection having a life and being useful, not just something I enjoy on my own. I've had lots of fun putting it together over the last 30 years and showing it, with exhibitions in Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and it wasn't about ownership. I still love it as much, even if it no longer belongs to me.

''To keep it alive, you have to continue to enrich it and come up with new projects, and it's a very time-intensive activity that took up all my energy, between keeping an inventory, maintenance, stocking, documentation and so forth. I needed to hand the baton to the most solid and relevant partner.

''The house of Saint Laurent and Anthony Vaccarello have full freedom to preserve and exploit it as they see fit. I have the greatest trust in them. Their motivation is complete and sincere.''

The collection was sold for an undisclosed sum and will join the existing Saint Laurent archive at the company's headquarters in Paris.