Hedi Slimane’s new logo for Saint Laurent Paris is hated on Facebook but loved by Karl. What do you think?

Fashion

Hedi Slimane’s new logo for Saint Laurent Paris is hated on Facebook but loved by Karl. What do you think?

By Alexandra Grant | July 25th, 2012 | 2:30 pm

Photography via Facebook/Yves Saint Laurent

After the hate-athon that ensued after Yves Saint Laurent unveiled a photo of its revamped Saint Laurent Paris logo, two fashion heavy-hitters have come to the defense of creative director Hedi Slimane.

Both Karl Lagerfeld and Arizona Muse have given their stamp of approval to the new fuss-free, sans-serif logo, which was pictured atop two black boxes stacked on white marble on the brand’s Facebook page Monday. The logo, which is a nod to the brand’s Rive Gauche era back in the ‘60s, is the exact opposite of the swirly Yves Saint Laurent font that’s been a mainstay for the brand up until this point.

At the launch party of Lagerfeld’s new Olympics-themed collection at Selfridges, the ever-opinionated designer told British Elle that the new logo injected something fresh into the label.

“All of them, Dior and Hedi at Saint Laurent, are friends of mine, so I think it’s a very good thing,” Lagerfeld said. “Paris needs some new things, some stimulation . . . I love the idea. I think it’s interesting and it’s important. Something fresh was needed.”

Muse, who was the face of the label’s Spring 2011 campaign, agreed that it was a wise idea to change it.

“People who aren’t in the fashion world might not know that a new designer has joined the brand, so this is a clear way of signifying that there’s been a big change,” she told British Vogue. “It’s the sort of thing everyone will notice, not just fashion people.”

Their praise of the logo is definitely a different tune than the hostile comments many Facebook users were leaving below the logo image. Here are a few examples:

“Everybody with Microsoft Word could have “designed” that logo[.]”

“Guess you’ll just delete posts you don’t like, just like you did with Yves huh?!” (Aggressive.)

“This is so boring and genuinely disappointing. You have one of the most beautifully designed logos and now your [sic] settling for what almost looks like a cheap stamp. This is a classic mistake of re-branding gone wrong and I think everyone can agree, a bad move.”

Though the public might not love it, the support Slimane’s new direction has received from a number of fashion industry insiders seems to indicate that he’s doing something right. We’re waiting to judge until this fall, when his first collections for the legendary French fashion house will be unveiled.

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