When I first heard the rumor that Yves Saint Laurent‘s new creative director Hedi Slimane was looking to change the iconic French luxury house’s name, admittedly, I scoffed. “Silly slow-news-day gossip that will never be substantiated,” I said to myself. Because what else could it be? Almost all of YSL’s branding over the last 10 years has centered squarely on the importance of the brand’s initials, and the Y in particular – from the incredibly popular Yves Saint Laurent Cabas ChYc to the Yves Saint Laurent Easy Bag, practically every major bag that the brand currently sells is predicated on the Y. Even many of the men’s bags use the logo heavily, and YSL’s logo is a stylized set of initials. The name is the brand.