Yves Saint Laurent is truly one of the great fashion designers of his generation, founding the company Yves Saint Laurent alongside partner Pierre Berge in 1962. He is credited as reviving the couture trend and his ability to create his own unique style whilst also encompassing changes in fashion. Yves Saint Laurent’s style can be characterized as a combination of elegance and comfort, and he draws influence from a combination of Picasso, pop art, and traditional Chinese clothing. Before his solo venture, Saint Laurent’s budding talent was spotted by none other than Christian Dior. After hiring Laurent, it was only a matter of time before he rose through the ranks and at the meager age of 21 found himself as the head designer at Christian Dior. After being conscripted into the military, Saint Laurent would part ways with Dior and upon his return would strike out on his own.

For his debut Yves Saint Laurent collection, he would use Victoire Doutreleau as his muse. This would start a long tradition of Saint Laurent using muses to center his collections around. Throughout the 1960s, a number of pieces would be released that would be considered revolutionary in the world of fashion. These included the Reefer Jacket, the Le Smoking women’s jacket, and the YSL jumpsuit. The brand soon expanded into fragrances and cosmetic lines. Then in 1978 it would launch a line of products introducing broad, padded shoulders. This style and women’s silhouette designed by Yves Saint Laurent would define women’s fashion in the 1980s. The brand expanded off the back of this, however critics started to comment on an over-reliance on shoulder pads and missed Yves Saint Laurent’s previous inventiveness. This was reflected in sales, and by the early 1990s profits had slumped and in 1999, Gucci bought the company and appointed Tom Ford as creative director. Yves Saint Laurent ended his work as a couture designer at the company in 2002 retiring to Marrakech and passed away in 2008. In 2015, the couture line was relaunched but dropped the Yves from Yves Saint Laurent, causing much controversy in the fashion world.

Rare 1986 Yves Saint Laurent Advert

How to tell if Yves Saint Laurent is vintage from the logo

The Yves Saint Laurent logo has become synonymous with luxury fashion. This strong association with luxury has caused hesitancy when it comes to updating the branding. The 2012 rebranding from Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane was met with widespread hostility and t-shirts that said ‘Ain’t Laurent without Yves’ became bestsellers in the backlash. What this means in terms of vintage identification is that there has only been one update of the brand logo, limiting its ability to help us determine if your Yves Saint Laurent is vintage. However, because the logo update happened in 2015, we can immediately classify a YSL piece as modern if it uses the logo.

1962 to 2012 YSL logo

• The first Yves Saint Laurent logo is the most widely known
• It consists of a text and an emblem, which were interchangeably used on designs during this period
• The emblem is a Y, S, and L overlayed on top of each other
• In the text logo, all the letters are capitalized, but the Y, S, and L are all slightly bigger
• This, and the fact the Yves Saint Laurent is such a mouthful, is why many people simply refer to the brand as YSL
• The logo is monochrome

2012 to now YSL logo

• In the one and only official logo update, the Yves from Yves Saint Laurent was dropped
• And the text was changed to be a blockier font and all the letters are the same height
• The logo also included Paris set below Saint Laurent
• It is monochrome
• This logo is similar to a rarely seen vintage logo used for some of the Rive Gauche lines, although the logo used for these lines was never the official YSL logo

How to tell if Yves Saint Laurent is vintage from the neck tags

In 1983, Yves Saint Laurent became the first-ever fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art whilst still alive. His name being consistently found on the tags of some of the most important pieces of fashion history has cemented his name and legacy in everyone’s minds. But before comparing the tags, it is useful to look at a few other clues to get a feel for if your Yves Saint Laurent might be vintage.

The first thing to watch out for is that vintage YSL tags usually contain a reference to its founding city, Paris. This practice stopped in the 1990s. Another important clue is the alternate logo used for many of the Rive Gauche pieces, which features a capitalized “SAINT LAURENT” text logo. Additionally, if the piece has polyester wash tags, it is probably from the 2000s onwards.

Another crucial aspect is the country of manufacture. Up until the 2000s, there was a strong tendency for Yves Saint Laurent items to be manufactured in France. Therefore, if your YSL piece indicates it was made in France, it is likely vintage. These details, including the references to Paris, the specific logos, and the manufacturing location, collectively help in identifying and dating vintage Yves Saint Laurent items, marking their significance in fashion history. And if the cuffs on your vintage YSL shirt have started to fray, you can learn how to fix them using our guide here.

Can’t read your tags? Submit them on our vintage tag identification page, and we’ll identify those vintage labels for you!

1960s vintage YSL tags

• The earliest Yves Saint Laurent tags were large white rectangles
• They all said Paris on them
• The first of YSL’s lines were made in France, as stated on the tags

1970s vintage YSL tags

• Some of the tags from the 1960s carried over into the 1970s, and these tags remained the design of Rive Gauche tags until the 1990s
• These particular tags have an alternate logo that is somewhat similar to the new one
• Yves Saint Laurent sportswear began, and was made in Hong Kong
• They are black with yellow writing

1980s vintage YSL tags

• In the 1980s the tags started to become more uniform in their design
• Often being a wide white rectangle, with a border
• The fabric of the tags became a thicker shiny material
• The logo is set within it with the line of product being written below the logo

1990s vintage YSL tags

• The Rive Gauche tags were finally updated in the 1990s, with Rive Gauche being written below the legacy logo
• The feature it brings over is the two-colored squares
• Menswear with the Pour Homme tags also started to circulate more

2000s to 2010s vintage YSL tags

• These tags started to have sizing tabs either attached to them, or on a small polyester tag next to them
• They also started to include composition tags below the neck tags
• And the polyester wash tags started to include a lot more information and either be located at the shoulder or waist