Saint Laurent's leather goods have always looked like they were designed by someone who also cut suits. YSL purses are built on hard edges, structured bases and hardware that behaves like a fastening rather than a decoration, which is a very different instinct from the softer French houses. Le Smoking is in the DNA of the bags too.
YSL Purses Are Where French Tailoring Meets Hardware
Structure separates the range more than size does
The house makes both soft and rigid bags and the difference matters far more than the scale. YSL purses at the structured end include the Sac De Jour Bag, which is one of the most architectural handbags any house currently makes, the Mini Voltaire Top Handle Bag in Box calf, and the Gaby Vanity Handbag in Suede. Box calf is a firm, highly polished leather that holds an edge, which is why it is used on the pieces meant to look sharp. Against those, the Loulou Mini Bag in Lambskin and the Loulou Small Bag in Matelasse Lambskin are deliberately soft and slouched. Buying one when you wanted the other is the most common mistake with this brand.
The smaller formats cover very different occasions
At the compact end the range fragments usefully. The Gaby Micro Vanity Bag in Lambskin is a rigid little box and reads as jewellery, while the College Mini Chain Bag in Shiny Crackled Leather uses a quilted body and a chain strap for evening. The Le 5 A 7 Supple Small Bag in Suede takes its name from the French expression for the hours between five and seven, which tells you exactly what it was designed for. That naming is characteristic of a house that has always been more interested in an hour of the day than in a season. The Sac De Jour, by contrast, is named for daytime and built like luggage.
Our honest take
The structured pieces are what this house does better than anyone and the soft ones are where it competes with everybody. The Sac De Jour is the most serious object here and the bag that will still look correct in twenty years, because a rigid frame does not sag. The Loulou in matelasse lambskin is the most comfortable to carry and will soften and crease, which is either patina or damage depending on your temperament. Le 5 A 7 in suede is the most elegant evening option. The College Mini is the most conventional. If you take one thing away, it is that box calf and rigid construction are where Saint Laurent's tailoring instinct actually shows, and the soft bags are a different brand pretending to be the same one.
