Perhaps my greatest complaint about the continued rebrands of several labels, specifically Saint Laurent, CELINE, and Burberry, is that the brands are losing a sense of history or heritage in the creative director shuffle. A new designer seeks to make their mark on the brand, for good or ill, and the rebrand is one way of repositioning the brand under the creative director’s vision. It is also good for the larger business as a whole as a reworked logo or new monogram can drive sales once a product has become too saturated in the market.
But there is something larger that I have a hard time reconciling, which is the fuck you to the archive. Perhaps the most prominent creative director that flipped the birds, has done this to two labels and that person is Hedi Slimane. While at Dior Homme, Slimane’s positioning took the brand from conservative to sex, drugs, and rock and roll. While the suits were made of flannel, the silhouette was skinny and done with an edge that only a person that hangs out with (and no doubts wishes he could be) musicians can bring to a storied house. Of course, it sold well and was fairly well received by the fashion press. While the codes at Dior Homme are a tad looser at Homme, it still was of great shock and still to this day, I lay the blame squarely at his feet of the reason why the male skinny look and model is now the de rigueur in the industry.
Slimane wasn’t happy of course with just being the creative director at YSL, when landing there in 2012, he had to strike “Yves” off the logo/brand, thus becoming just “SAINT LAURENT.” Thankfully, Yves was in the ground for a decent, albeit somewhat short, amount of time. Like his time at Dior Homme, he embraced rock and roll and excised the ghost of Saint Laurent. While critics weren’t amused, Kering, which owns the label, saw significant growth, which continues today under Anthony Vaccarello, although critics see more Yves in Vaccarello, shot through the lens of rock and roll, which okay, okay, at the very least is better than just deleting the archives.
I realize that fashion is all about the newest thing, though trends have a way of cycling back every twenty years, but when I see a storied house change so radically as a significant change in the name, and only lip service paid in the accessory and beauty lines to the man that started the house, I can’t help but grimace. We are nowhere without a sense of history. Without it, we are doomed to repeat past mistakes and we are unable to move forward when a crisis hits.
I am aware that business is often the driver of significant changes in anything. So perhaps it isn’t about the clothes that I’m most upset about, but the name change. While in theory, the name is still Yves Saint Laurent, the brand is now everywhere as SAINT LAURENT. I get that there needed to be a decisive break in order to boost the brand, but when one “kills” off its founder, one has to wonder what they truly think of how the world works. Business growth is not forever, nor is Slimane, nor is the fashion house. I just feel like a massive slice of fashion, though, has been cut away because it isn’t beneficial for business.
Who knows, maybe striking Yves from the name was beneficial for the company and freshened up a stagnate brand, but much like the rebranding, perhaps there will be a time when “Yves” will return.
Runway Court of Opinion 