Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent Beauté (YSL Beauté) is the brand division responsible for Yves Saint Laurent perfumes and cosmetics, and a business line that has operated fragrances, makeup, and skincare globally. The cosmetics and perfume business was operated as a separate organization from the main brand for many years, and the business entities were separated, including through the sale of the cosmetics and perfume business to an external party in 2008. It is positioned separately from the fashion business in terms of product categories and distribution structure.

Saint Laurent Rive Gauche is the brand’s ready-to-wear line and a group of directly operated boutiques of the same name, launched in Paris in 1966 by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Separate from haute couture, it systematically developed and sold ready-to-wear collections suitable for mass production, serving as a major diffusion line through which the brand reached a broader range of age groups and customers. Menswear under Rive Gauche was also introduced later, taking on the ready-to-wear segment within the brand’s commercial structure.

Variations (Variations by Yves Saint Laurent) was a diffusion-style ready-to-wear designation introduced by Yves Saint Laurent in the 1980s. It was intended to offer products with more accessible specifications than the main line and through different distribution channels. Alongside the main Rive Gauche and haute couture lines, it served to broaden the range of price points and distribution.