Whereas production and distribution of perfumes and beauty products are the responsibility of Sanofi, Yves Saint Laurent continues to guide the creative development of products bearing his name. The company also produces its own line of lipsticks, eye shadows, and other makeup products, as well as a line of personal care products, such as lotions and cremes. Yves Saint Laurent's Opium and Rive Gauche have long been leaders in the women's perfumes market while Jazz, and, in the mid-1990s, Opium pour Homme, have helped the company capture a share of the men's perfume market as well. Perfumes make up the most important part of this division's sales, which neared FFr 2.5 billion in 1996, boosting the Sanofi beauty division's total sales to FFr 3.8 billion. Yves Saint Laurent Perfumes, under the direction of Sanofi's CEO Raymond Ortal, produces and markets perfumes, cosmetics, and personal care products under the Saint Laurent name. In 1998 Yves Saint Laurent celebrates his 40th annual collection as the official designer for the year's World Cup, hosted by France.Īlthough perfumes have seemed to play a secondary role for Yves Saint Laurent, they have long been the label's chief sales engine. Total licensed sales of Yves Saint Laurent products reached FFr 4 billion in 1996. Saint Laurent is seconded by long-time partner and Saint Laurent CEO Pierre Bergé, who oversees direction of the label's ready-to-wear and licensed products, including the group's chain of more than 100 Yves Saint Laurent boutiques. Yves Saint Laurent continues to assure the design and development of the Saint Laurent haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, and his January show has long been the central event of the fashion world. Haute couture, guided by Yves Saint Laurent's Maison de Couture, represents only a fraction of sales under the Saint Laurent name, yet remains the label's flagship. In 1996, annual sales at Yves Saint Laurent were reported at FFr 2.48 billion (US$460 million) for perfumes, and FFr 4 billion (US$750 million) for its couture. Sanofi also has controlling interest in two other important labels, Nina Ricci and Yves Rocher. As such, Yves Saint Laurent Perfumes forms the core of Sanofi's FFr 3.8 billion beauty division, the industry's third largest perfumes and cosmetics group behind L'Oréal and Estée Lauder, joined by such other labels as Roger & Gallet, Van Cleef & Arpels, and Oscar de la Renta. The distinction between man and mark is necessary: while Yves Saint Laurent continues to excite the fashion world with his collections for haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, the group, since 1993, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanofi, itself a subsidiary of French industrial giant Elf Aquitaine (FFr 280 billion in 1996). ![]() In just 40 years, Yves Saint Laurent, the man, has fashioned a legend, while the Yves Saint Laurent company, Groupe Yves Saint Laurent, has grown to become one of the world's leading labels for clothing, perfumes, accessories, makeup, and skin care products, and, of course, haute couture.
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