The eponymous brand was established in 1962 by designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. The brand's logos were designed in 1963 by A. M. Cassandre.[7] During the 1960s and 1970s, YSL popularized the beatnik look, safari jackets, tight pants, and thigh-high boots. In 1966, YSL debuted Le Smoking, a tuxedo suit for women. In an attempt to democratize fashion, YSL began producing ready-to-wear in 1966, with its launch of Rive Gauche, and is considered to be the first to popularize the concept.[8] YSL's designs often featured designs influenced from traditional Chinese clothing, as well as themes from Pop Art, Ballets Russes, and Picasso. Saint Laurent is credited with initiating the broad, shoulder-padded style in 1978, that would go on to characterize 1980s fashion.[9] Saint Laurent's muses included Loulou de La Falaise, Betty Catroux, Talitha Pol-Getty, Catherine Deneuve and Laetitia Casta.[10][11]
YSL dress "Hommage à Piet Mondrian" (A/W 1965) on left, with inspiration Composition in red, blue and white II by Piet Mondrian on rightModels in cocktail dresses (A/W 1965) by Yves Saint Laurent inspired by Piet Mondrian art, 1966
The brand expanded in the 1980s, and early 1990s, with men's and women's fragrances, and its cosmetic line in 1978. However, by 1992, the company's profits were in decline and its share price had fallen.[12] In 1993, Saint Laurent was sold to pharmaceuticals company Sanofi.[13]
In 1997, Pierre Bergé appointed Hedi Slimane as collections and art director and relaunched Rive Gauche Homme.[14] Slimane departed two years later to head couture menswear at Dior Homme.[15]
In 1999, Kering purchased YSL and hired Tom Ford to design the wonderful ready-to-wear collection, while Yves Saint Laurent himself would design the haute couture collection.[16] Designs by Tom Ford For YSL were chosen Dress of the Year by the Fashion Museum in 2001 and 2004.[17]
In 2002, after years of poor health, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, and criticisms of YSL designs, Saint Laurent closed the couture division of YSL. "Saint Laurent gave them power,"[12] Pierre Bergé was quoted, reflecting on his career and impact on fashion, "I created the contemporary woman's wardrobe."[12] In 2004, Tom Ford departed the company and Stefano Pilati, an Italian-born designer became creative director.[18] Yves Saint Laurent died of brain cancer in 2008.[19] The following few years proved to be tumultuous for the company,[12] with YSL stores closing in the key U.S. markets of San Francisco and New York (including the company's Madison Avenue location, its first-ever store in the United States). In January 2010, its Chicago boutique on Oak Street also closed.[20]
In 2012, Kering announced Hedi Slimane replaced Stefano Pilati as creative director for YSL. Slimane previously worked with Dior Homme until 2007. In 2015, Slimane announced he would revive Yves Saint Laurent's couture line.[21] In 2016, Slimane left Saint Laurent[22] and Anthony Vaccarello was appointed creative director, a position he still holds as of August 2022.[23]
Despite Slimane previously working with the house, there was controversy following his appointment, particularly after the announcement the ready-to-wear line would be rebranded “Saint Laurent” (dropping “Yves” from its name).[24] ”Yves Saint Laurent” and the YSL vertical monogram logo would remain for accessories and its L’Oréal-owned cosmetics line. Slimane drew inspiration for the name change from the ready-to-wear line Rive Gauche’s name when it first launched, “Saint Laurent Rive Gauche”.[25] Parisian boutique Colette began selling shirts with the line "Ain't Laurent without Yves." Saint Laurent requested the store stop selling the shirts (which it did on its online store). In October 2013, Colette received a letter from YSL accusing it of selling counterfeit products that seriously damaged the brand. Following the accusation, Saint Laurent canceled Colette's order for its Spring 2014 Collection, despite Colette stocking the brand since 1998.[26]
After his appointment, Slimane moved the design studio to Los Angeles, Slimane's home; the couture atelier would remain in France.[12] The company revived its haute couture collection in 2015, under Slimane.[27]
In April 2016, Anthony Vaccarello was appointed creative director.[28] In 2017, Vaccarello chose Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, as face of the A/W 2017 campaign.[29] In 2019, Saint Laurent launched its lifestyle-brand Rive Droite, in which exclusive merchandise, collector's items, and curated experiences are made available at Paris and Los Angeles.[30] In July 2020, the popular singer-songwriter Rosé was named the global ambassador of Yves Saint Laurent, the brand's first-ever.[31][32] In 2021, Rive Droite debuted Te ride, a collection in collaboration with Super73, consisting of an electric bike, skateboards, and surfboards,[33] and Live Sessions, a platform for emerging musicians to perform for a digital audience.[34]
A/W 2004 by Tom Ford, Fashion Museum's Dress of the Year
Related Research Articles
Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, referred to as Yves Saint Laurent or YSL, was a French fashion designer who, in 1962, founded his eponymous fashion label. He is regarded as being among the foremost fashion designers of the twentieth century. In 1985, Caroline Milbank wrote, "The most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years, Yves Saint Laurent can be credited with both spurring the couture's rise from its 1960s ashes and with finally rendering ready-to-wear reputable."
Ready-to-wear is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a particular person's frame. In other words, It is a piece of clothing that was mass produced in different sizes and sold that way instead of it being designed and sewn for one person. The term off-the-peg is sometimes used for items other than clothing, such as handbags.
Christian Dior SE, commonly known as Dior, is a French multinational luxury fashion house controlled and chaired by French businessman Bernard Arnault, who also heads LVMH. Dior holds 42.36% shares and 59.01% of voting rights within LVMH.
Betty Catroux is a Brazilian-born French former Chanel model, and fashion icon. She has been cited as a muse by both Yves Saint Laurent and Tom Ford.
Pierre Vital Georges Bergé was a French industrialist and patron. He co-founded the fashion label Yves Saint Laurent, and was a longtime business partner of its namesake designer.
Kering is a French-based multinational corporation specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen and Yves Saint Laurent.
Hedi Slimane is a French photographer and grand couturier. From 2000 to 2007, he held the position of creative director for Dior Homme. From 2012 to 2016, he was the creative director for Yves Saint Laurent. Since February 1, 2018, Slimane has been the creative, artistic and image director of Celine.
Cathy Horyn is an American fashion critic and journalist who worked for The New York Times from 1998 until 2014 where she had the highly noted and provocative blog On The Runway. In 2015, she was appointed critic-at-large for New York Magazine's website The Cut, reviewing the Fall 2015 womenswear shows in New York and Paris. Horyn was only the second New York Times fashion critic, having succeeded Amy Spindler who retired in November 2003. She is a supporter of Belgian designer Raf Simons.
Stefano Pilati is an Italian fashion designer. In 2017 he founded Random Identities, a ready-to-wear brand.
Celine is a French luxury ready-to-wear and leather goods brand owned by the LVMH group since 1996. It was founded in 1945 by Céline Vipiana. Since November 2015, the headquarters are located at 16 rue Vivienne in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris at the Hôtel Colbert de Torcy, which has French Historic Monument classification. Séverine Merle has been the Chief Executive Officer since April 2017.
Nicolas Saint Grégoire is a French artist and designer born in 1983. Dividing his time between Paris and New York, he is represented by Galerie Marcel Strouk Rive Gauche (Paris), Cynthia Corbett Gallery (London) and Life As a Work of Art.
Paul Deneve is a businessperson working in fashion and technology. In September 2013, he became a vice president at Apple. Before joining Apple, he was CEO of the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), a subsidiary of Kering. Between 1997 and 2013, he managed a number of companies in the luxury sector, including Courreges, Nina Ricci, Lanvin and YSL.
Alexis Mabille is a French fashion designer who is the creative director of his namesake label, Alexis Mabille.
The Mondrian Collection was designed by French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent (1936–2008) in 1965. This collection was a homage to the work of several modernistic artists. Part of this collection were six cocktail dresses that were inspired by the paintings of Piet Mondrian (1872–1944). Because these six shift dresses played a major role in this collection, the collection is called the Mondrian Collection. In academic literature it has been questioned whether this name fully covers the aim of the collection, since there are other artists who inspired Saint Laurent such as Poliakoff and Malevich. However, Mondrian seemed to play a leading role in this collection. The dresses were famously accessorized with low-heeled, black pumps with large, geometric-looking metallic buckles across the vamp, produced by Roger Vivier.
Anthony Vaccarello is an Belgian-Italian fashion designer. He is the current creative director of Yves Saint Laurent. Prior to this position, he was creative director at Versus Versace. He has also designed his own eponymous line.
Valérie Hermann is a French businesswoman. She is the managing director of the fashion and luxury division of EPI, a private investment fund based in Paris. In 2009 Fortune named her one of the world's 50 most powerful women in business.
Grace Kathleen Hartzel is an American fashion model from Zionsville, Indiana. She was discovered at the age of 15 while dining at a St. Louis Cheesecake Factory with her family. She has walked in nearly every major show during the fall/winter 2015 and spring/summer 2016 shows after being noted as a muse of then-YSL fashion designer Hedi Slimane in the fall/winter 2014 show. Slimane's spring 2014 show was entirely made in Hartzel's image, when she was an unknown.
Nastassia Sahara Elizabeth Lindes is an English-American fashion model and musician. She is the face of YSL Beauty.
Victoire Doutreleau is a French former model, who worked extensively for Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.
Marina Schiano was an Italian fashion model, muse, fashion stylist, journalist, photographer and a jewelry designer.
↑ Henri Mouron (1986). Cassandre: Posters, Typography, Stage Designs. London: Thames and Hudson. pp.147–148. ISBN0-500-23450-7.
↑ Alicia Drake. The Beautiful Fall: Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris. Little, Brown and Company, 2006. p.49.
↑ Donovan, Carrie (November 12, 1978). "Why the Big Change Now". The New York Times. p.226. Retrieved November 18, 2021. What Saint Laurent sprang on the fashion world last January when he introduced man‐tailored suit jackets with shoulders squared out with padding...has now become staple fashion in Italy, France and America.
↑ Mark Holgate,May 2020 COVID-19 was seriously effecting the sales of YSL, so Vaccarello came up with the idea to sell the handbags at a discounted price in bulk to wholesalers, the exact same designer YSL hand bags just without the authentication and 12 digit serial number leather tag. Same exact bags in generic concept to sell for almost half the price but actually the same exact bags. His genius saved Yves Saint Laurant. "My Idea of YSL Lies in the Attitude"—Anthony Vaccarello Talks Saint LaurentVogue September 27, 2016
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Hommage à Piet Mondrian , A/W 1965
Silk jumpsuit, A/W 1970; wool dress, A/W 1968; silk dress, A/W 1969
Beaded silk evening dress, A/W 1969
Evening gown designed for Jane Birkin, 1971
Designed for Anny Duperey in 1974 film Stavisky
Evening dress, A/W 1975
Inspired by Henri Matisse: S/S 1982; S/S 1970; A/W 1981
Black satin pantsuit, ca. 1980
Hommage à Fernand Léger , A/W 1981
Hommage à Georges Braque , S/S 1988
Hommage à Vincent van Gogh , S/S 1988
A/W 1992
Dresses inspired by Pierre Bonnard, S/S 2001
A/W 2004 by Tom Ford, Fashion Museum's Dress of the Year
listen )), also known as Saint Laurent and YSL, [3] is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1962 by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. The company specializes in haute couture , ready-to-wear, leather accessories, and footwear. [4] Its cosmetics line, YSL Beauty, is owned by L'Oréal. [5] [6] 
