What was the name of Yves Saint Laurent’s first perfume, launched in 1964? The answer is Y.
Y was Yves Saint Laurent’s first fragrance, launched in 1964, two years after Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé opened their own couture house. The single-letter name was visually striking and closely tied to the designer’s identity, helping establish fragrance as an important extension of the fashion label.
Saint Laurent wanted the perfume to feel “lush, heavy, and languid,” and its launch reflected the longstanding relationship between haute couture and perfume. Earlier designers, including Paul Poiret and Gabrielle Chanel, had used fragrance to complete a house’s image and broaden its reach beyond clothing.
Y is often confused with later and more famous Saint Laurent fragrances. Rive Gauche arrived in 1971, while Opium was launched in 1977 and became one of the brand’s signature scents. Paris, another major YSL fragrance, came much later, in 1983, so none of those names fits the 1964 clue.