YSL (Yves Saint Laurent) Change Name

The French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent would be changing its name to Saint Laurent Paris; Hedi Slimane’s first big move as creative director of YSL.

Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve confirmed the news to his staff in an internal memo:

“I am very pleased to announce an exciting step in the history of our brand and our business. As part of our strategy to become one of the world’s true leaders in fashion and luxury, we are transforming the name of our brand from ‘Yves Saint Laurent’ to ‘Saint Laurent Paris.’ The new name of our brand has been shared with the media today. The brand identity and visual language will be introduced over the next several months and will be fully in place for the Spring/Summer 2013 collection. This change celebrates our legacy and heritage, while boldly marking our ambition for the future. It will allow us to return to the fundamentals of YSL and revive the spirit and the intentions that reigned over the creation of ‘Saint Laurent Rive Gauche’ in 1966: principles of youth, freedom, and modernity.”

The brand YSL logo will not disappear (so no need to stock up on those logo tees like Rick Ross), but it’s still unclear the extent to which the rebranding will affect YSL’s overall aesthetic.

Ha! Complex is a problem for that Rick Ross shot, I just had to use the phrase. LMAO