No More Yves Saint Laurent?!?

The interlocking YSL is one of the most recognized logos in the world and has been a central fixture in European fashion since the second half of the 20th century, but now it looks like YSL will be relegated to the history books if new Yves Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane has his way. Women’s Wear Daily has confirmed a rumor originally posted on Fashonista that Mr. Slimane intends on changing the french design house’s name from Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent Paris in an apparent homage to the label’s first foray into ready-to-wear fashion back in 1966, which was introduced under the name Saint Laurent Rive Gauche.

Founded in 1962 by former Dior designer Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent the Yves Saint Laurent label quickly became a staple of french fashion and is credited as being the first major European fashion house to use ethnic models in its runway shows and to draw heavily for non-European cultures in its design process. Mr. Mathieu-Saint-Laurent himself is also regarded as the inventor of the tuxedo suit for women and perhaps most notably as the central designer who finally made Ready-to-Wear collections respected by the fashion world. This was of course in large part due to the scope of YSL’s Ready-to-Wear collections and the amount of effort that the design staff invested in them, all of which began with the first Saint Laurent Rive Gauche show in 1966.

Perhaps the logic behind Mr. Slimane’s proposed name change is to help recapture some of that innovative and unique energy displayed by Yves Saint Laurent back in the late 60’s, but so far the reaction from the fashion world to the news has been mixed at best. At the time this article is being written their are still conflicting reports coming in from various sources close to the company as to whether this will really be the end of the YSL logo. While it is official that Saint Laurent Paris will become the label’s proper name sometime in the coming months certain sources insist that the YSL will still appear on the company’s products while others are suggesting that the logo will be redesigned to suit the new name by dropping the Y and leaving the SL.