la casuarina

Not too long ago it was announced that Yves Saint Laurent would be rebranded as Saint Laurent Paris. The official rebranding will launch with newly minted creative director Hedi Slimane’s first ready-to-wear collection for Spring 2013. But the new logo has already been released, and the detractors have been busy making their dissatisfaction heard. 

While the original logo was a beautiful, artistic expression designed by the Ukrainian-French painter Adolphe Mouron Cassandre in 1961, the new design is minimalist in comparison. But what else is to be expected from Slimane who has perfected minimalism, and has arguably elevated it to an art form itself?

Comparisons can be drawn to Tom Ford, Chanel and Pierre Hardy. But upon closer inspection, perhaps the new logo is a derivative of Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, which launched in 1966 as a breakthrough for designer Yves Saint Laurent, the first haute couturier to establish a ready-to-wear line.

We may have to wait for September to see Slimane’s first collection for Saint Laurent Paris, but it’s already clear he’ll be rewriting the brand’s history.