Yves Saint Laurent: A History

In a similar route of Dior, Saint Laurent made his debut on the fashion scene with French textile tycoon, Boussac. The termination of their business relationship serves as the origination point for the YSL brand story, which I’ll outline for the sake of “brevity”. It’s amazing how fun business can be!

1936 YSL is born in French Algerian port of Oran

1955 YSL joins the creative staff at Dior

1958 After Dior’s death, YSL makes his debut collection (trapeze line) as new Creative Director of the Dior Maison, age 21

1960 YSL launches the beat style at Dior, and Boussac quickly replaces him with Marc Bohan (Sounds a little like the Marc Jacobs grunge line at Perry Ellis, no?)

1962 YSL launches his own line with life and business partner, Pierre Bergé, backed by American financier, J. Mack Robinson

1963 Robinson sells his shares, and American fragrance brand Charles of the Ritz obtains 80% share of the couture house against 20% held by YSL and Bergé

1965 Infamous Mondrian collection debuts

1966 Relatively affordable pret-á-porter line, Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, is launched

1967-8 Makes headlines with launch of ethnic, safari and nude looks

1972 Pharmaceuticals giant E.R. Squibb takes over Charles of the Ritz, along with control of YSL perfume and cosmetics, allowing YSL and Bergé purchase full control of group’s couture activities

Full ownership of couture activities gave YSL and Bergé the right to expand the business beyond couture, using the brand’s name through licensing agreements.

Haute couture will stay for perhaps another five or ten years. I’m only keeping the salon going because I cannot ethically justify putting 150 people out of work.” ~Yves Saint Laurent, 1971

1977-8 Launch of Opium perfume and creation of YSL Beauté

1986 YSL and Bergé buy Charles of the Ritz back from E.R. Squibb, acquiring full rights to the YSL fragrances and cosmetics, expanding their business 10 times over; many financial partners were required for this purchase, among them Carlo de Benedetti, who came to own the largest share of the company after YSL and Bergé themselves.

1989 To meet burgeoning debts, YSL is forced onto the secondary stock market in Paris

1991 De Benedetti demands to be released from his investment amidst the global recession of the early 90s; Bergé and YSL, unable to find new investors, drive themselves further into debt buying him out of his share

1992 Another major investor, Wasserstein-Perella Bank, indicates that it must sell it’s 15% investment in the YSL Groupe; Bergé demands that their replacement investor be European (to avoid having a multinational company)

L’Oreal makes an offer for 100%, but Bergé does not want the company to be run by consumer goods giant, Nestle (L’Oreal will acquire YSL Beauté). LVMH also expresses interest, but backs out after Bergé requests that he and YSL maintain creative control over the YSL brand and its primary competitor, Dior (remember, LVMH structures its brands to avoid collaboration, brand dilution, and in this case, sabotage).

YSL and Bergé, unable to come to an agreement for an investor, begin selling off their personal shares, and are subsequently investigated for insider trading. (Check out the 1992 film documentary by Hamish Bowles on YSL here.)

1993 The groupe is sold at 100% to French national company, Sanofi, for a reported $650 million. YSL maintains position as creative director of his couture line

1997 After years of losses on the YSL brand, Sanofi shops around for a new buyer for YSL

1999 After serving as white knight in rescuing Gucci from a hostile takeover from LVMH, Francois Pinault (head of PPR and majority stakeholder of the Gucci Group at 53.2%) acquires the YSL brand

The Couture Division (including pret-á-porter and fragrances) is sold to Gucci Group, where Tom Ford is named Creative Director of YSL Rive Gauche in addition to his role as Creative Director for Gucci.

The Haute Couture Division stays under direct control of Pinault through his holding Artemis, and remains under the creative direction of YSL.

The DNA of Yves Saint Laurent is completely different from the DNA of the Gucci brands. These dreams are kept alive by our creative directors and our designers.” ~Robert Polet, Gucci Group CEO

2000 Gucci Group immediately applies its direct-control mantra for production and distribution on the YSL brand, terminating more than 150 licensing agreements and creating a network of +62 directly-operated stores in order to create brand image and service consistency, but this attempt drives YSL further into the red

2002 YSL’s final show as creative director of YSL Haute Couture

I have today decided to bid farewell to the world of fashion I have so loved.” ~Yves Saint Laurent, 2002

2004 Tom Ford leaves Gucci Group, and is replaced by Stefano Pilati as Creative Director of YSL couture

2005 YSL brand profits fall from €169m in ’04 to €162m, with losses ballooning to €76.4m

2006 Valerie Hermann, a veteran of LVMH, assumes position as CEO of YSL

After her first full year, YSL revenues rise 19% and operating losses fall 24.9%

With the fixed costs I have, I need more volume.” ~Valerie Hermann, YSL CEO

Lessons in Luxury from the French

• The French model for luxury presents a growth pattern that typically occurs through brand extension and/or brand-buying, in the case of conglomerates.
• Individual brands pursue growth primarily through brand extension, with very limited second line development (YSL Rive Gauche is an exception, not the rule).
• Most French brands have moved from singular couture brands into luxury conglomerates, where specific skills and resources may be shared through brand synergy, but unique brand image must be carefully managed.
• It’s a good idea to keep your brands separated, from the creative director down to the production staff, in order to maintain unique brand identities.
• Too many licensing agreements can dilute the brand image when not properly controlled, but a group-wide policy of one-size/strategy-fits-all can have the same effect.
• Today, the labels of former couturiers make their money in accessories, fragrances and cosmetics. Couture is needed to hold uphold the luxury brand image (for now), but the market for couture has nearly disappeared.
• Without the high profit margins of couture sales, luxury fashion companies must rely on volume sales in lower price categories. This impacts the image of what some feel a luxury company should be (for example, a guy I look up to, Seth Godin), but without a couture market, the industry must look for a new strategy.

I’ve always said that the couture would die with Yves Saint Laurent. Now it’s a domino effect. The couture has lost its raison d’etre. Couture isn’t art. It’s not meant to be hung in a closet like a painting. The women who wore couture no longer exist; the art de vivre that spawned couture has died. If houses such as Chanel and Dior one day get proof that they can sell as many bags and fragrances without a couture show, they’ll stop couture, too.” ~Pierre Bergé, 2004, upon hearing that Emanuel Ungaro would leave couture (Vogue)

Sources: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 23. St. James Press, 1998; Vogue Magazine; www.fundinguniverse.com; personal notes

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France

Post-WW2 recovery of the fashion industry was not easy in France.

The geography of fashion has distant roots, and world capitols rely on a large accumulation of materials from around the world in order to grow. As a Nazi-occupied island, isolated from the rest of the world, Paris lost its monopoly on fashion, with competition growing stronger in New York, London and Italy. In order to recover, French ateliers returned to the haute-couture stage, but with innovative cooperation between the fashion and textile industries.

The Theatre de la Mode was a traveling exhibition of more than 150 wire-frame dolls, each about 70cm tall, dressed in miniature couture clothing (see photo, above). These small sizes were used to save on expensive materials, while still demonstrating the tangible qualities of the garments’ designs and construction. More than 50 French couture houses participated in the exhibition.

In 1946, Christian Dior (1905-1957) came on the scene, opening his own couture house. He was contacted by the French Minister of Fashion (what a title!), a man named Lucien Lelong, and asked to partner with French textile tycoon, “The Cotton King” Marcel Boussac, in order to reinvigorate the fashion and textile industries of France on a global scale. Jacques c, a young civil servant, was hired to serve as business administrator. Dior launched his first collection in 1947 in cooperation with Boussac. The collection embraced the “New Look”, which recalled the formerly popular S-shaped silhouette without the underlying cage. Dior abandoned the masculine look, and emphasized luxury and opulence. The look was indeed new after years of the plain, shapeless ration dresses of WW2, and came with huge amounts of layered textiles and embroideries. Dior and Boussac used their marketing skills to promote the extensive use of fabrics (promoting the textile industry) and opulent details and construction (promoting the fashion industry) by playing to the optimism that followed years of suffering.

No one person can change fashion- a big fashion change imposes itself. It was because women longed to look like women again that they adopted the New Look.” Dior, 1947

There was a backlash to the New Look in the States in 1946-7, when people thought it inappropriate to display such opulence after such great suffering, and for women to bind themselves again after working in the place of men and revolutionizing their fashion in accordance. They weren’t the only ones speaking out against the New Look.

Coco Chanel re-emerged and gave many interviews against Dior, saying that his design was an easy dress to impose on women, but that they needed to be able to be comfortable in their daily lives and be able to move independent of assistance. She remarked, “A woman should do her shopping without being teased by the housewife. Whomever laughs is always right.” (Ironically, the North American market would become Dior’s biggest by the mid-50s.)

Over time, Rouët worked to extend the brand into a range of licensed items, exploiting the financial rewards of export deals and licensing contracts. Dior understood and exploited the promotional value of press coverage, and frequently made headlines while catering to Hollywood’s best and brightest, and by giving headline-generating names to each of his collections.

For a more in-depth look at the life and work of Dior, check out his biography at the Design Museum site.

You can also read more about the birth of luxury conglomerates, exemplified by Christian Dior and LVMH, here.

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