Yves Saint Laurent (clothing brand)

Saint Laurent logo

**Yves Saint Laurent** (YSL), also **Saint Laurent** (since 2012), is a Parisian haute couture house founded in 1961 by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. Since 1999, the fashion house belongs to the Gucci group, which in turn belongs to the Kering holding. The current designer of the collection is Anthony Vaccarello. Yves Saint Laurent produced a number of legendary items in his fashion house: "Mondrian" gown, Le Smoking women's tuxedos, safari jackets and sheer dresses. " Vogue” magazine writes that Yves Saint Laurent revolutionized the fashion world in the 1960s and 1970s with his innovative combination of male and female, high and low, classic and avant-garde: he was the one who brought ready-made designer clothes to the masses." According to the designer himself, he created the modern woman's wardrobe.

Yves Saint Laurent was founded in July 1961 by designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. In November, Saint Laurent and Berge agreed to a $700,000 investment from Atlanta businessman Mac Robinson in exchange for 80% of the company. YSL's first collection was shown in January 1962. The logo for the house was designed by AM Cassandre in 1963. In 1963, Berge signed a contract with *Charles of the Ritz* to create fragrances for YSL, and two years later, Lanvin-Charles of the Ritz bought 80% of Robinson for one million dollars. In the 1960s, Yves Saint Laurent designed stage costumes for actresses Claudia Cardinale, Sophie Loren and Catherine Deneuve.

In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent launched a ready-to-wear line called Rive Gauche. In the same year, inspired by the androgynous fashion trend, Saint Laurent created a women's collection with a masculine style and created the first tuxedo for women, Le Tuxedo. A year later, he introduced his famous safari jacket. Saint Laurent was the first designer to use African and Asian models in fashion shows. From 1971 to 2002, the director of the house was Baroness Helena de Ludinghausen.

In 1971, Yves Saint Laurent launched *Rive Gauche fragrance for women.* In the same year, Saint Laurent appears naked in the advertising campaign of the men's cologne "Homme". In 1972, Berge and Saint Laurent bought their clothing line for $1.1 million from *Squibb*, which owned the Lanvin-Charles of the Ritzy group and retained the YSL fragrance brand. *Lulu de la Falez, who* has designed jewelry and hats for YSL for over 30 years, joins the fashion house. From 1973, the fashion house began using a new series of annual presentations: two for haute couture (in January and July) and two for ready-to-wear (in April and October). Bergé began actively distributing Yves Saint Laurent licenses for everything from sunglasses to beach towels and pens. In 1977, the house released a women's fragrance called "Opium" with the slogan "For those addicted to Yves Saint Laurent — Opium". Despite objections due to the name and advertising campaign, the perfume was a huge success.

In 1986, Yves Saint Laurent bought Charles of the Ritz, which owns the fashion house's perfumery business, for $630 million. A year later, YSL sold Charles of the Ritz's line of famous fragrances *to Revlon for $150 million*. In 1989, the house went public on the Paris Stock Exchange and was valued at $500 million. In 1993, YSL, along with its perfume division, was sold to the perfumery-pharmaceutical company *Elf Sanofi for $650 million in shares*. Saint Laurent and Berge retained control of the clothing lines. In 1998, Saint Laurent left the Rive Gauche line, hiring Albera Elbaza and Edi Slima for the women's and men's collections, respectively. In 1999, the YSL house was acquired by the Gucci group  who invited *Tom Ford to create ready-to-wear collections*. In 2002, Yves Saint Laurent presented his last collection and closed the couture line. Stefano Pilati took over the ready-to-wear line after Tom Ford left in 2004. His style was more French than Ford's overtly sexual image. In 2008, the founder of the house, Saint Laurent, died.

In 2011-2013, Paul Deneuve worked as the president and chief executive officer of YSL  . During his tenure, in February 2012, Edi Slimane returned home to replace Pilati as creative director. In June 2012, she changed the name of her ready-to-wear line to *Saint Laurent Paris*, while the cosmetics line and company name remained the same. Under Paul Deneuve, YSL started to make a profit again. In 2016, Edi Sliman was replaced as creative director by *Versus designer Anthony Vaccarello.* In June 2020, YSL announced Rozeanne Park (a member of the popular Korean group Blackpink ) as the brand's first global ambassador. In addition, the girl was featured in the brand's fall campaign. In September 2021, the company announced that it will not use natural fur in its collections from 2022  .

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