The YSL cassandre has exact proportions, and a fake almost never gets all three letters right.
Founded 1961Paris5 weighted checks
Saint Laurent's mark is the interlocking YSL cassandre, and it is a typographic object with exact proportions: the relative widths of the three letters, the depth of the Y's fork, and how the S threads between them. Counterfeits reproduce the shape and miss the proportions, and side by side the difference is unmistakable.
The house renamed itself from Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent Paris in 2012 under Hedi Slimane, and interior stamps follow that change. As at Celine, the rename gives you a hard dating fact to test a bag's internal consistency against.
Beyond the logo, the reads are the quilting on the Loulou and the College, the chain weight, and the interior stamp with its serial beneath.
Inside the bag, stamped into leather, is the house name — YVES SAINT LAURENT on older production, SAINT LAURENT PARIS from 2012 — with 'made in Italy' and, beneath or nearby, a serial. On many models the serial appears on the reverse of the stamped leather tab.
The stamp should be struck level into the leather at an even depth, with foiling that wears rather than flakes. The serial is impressed in the same manner. Printed marks and stamps sitting on the surface are the ordinary failures.
Serial formats have varied and there is no public register, so the serial's value is again in testing era consistency against the name on the stamp and the hardware.
Ordered by how much each one settles. The decisive checks are the ones worth your first five minutes; the supporting ones only matter once those are clean.
The interlocking YSL has exact relative letter widths and a specific depth to the Y's fork, with the S threading between the Y and the L in a particular way. Counterfeit logos are recognisably the same shape and wrong in proportion — usually with the Y too wide or the S too round. This is the fastest read on the maison.
YVES SAINT LAURENT belongs to production before 2012 and SAINT LAURENT PARIS to production after. A bag whose stamp disagrees with its hardware, lining and serial format is internally inconsistent, which is what you are looking for.
On the Loulou and the College the quilting is aligned across seams and the chain is heavy for its size, hanging with inertia. A light chain that flaps, or quilt lines that break at a seam, are failures.
Even plating that dulls with wear rather than flaking, screws finished flush without tool marks, and a cassandre plate mounted dead level with no gap at any corner.
Grained calfskin consistent across panels, edges painted in layers and sanded smooth. Lumpy, single-coat edge paint is a construction shortcut.
Saint Laurent counterfeits are numerous and concentrate on the Loulou, the College and the Sac de Jour. Because the maison's marks are typographic rather than mechanical, the counterfeit failure mode is proportional rather than structural — the logo is the right idea at the wrong ratios.
The other consistent weakness is chain weight, since heavy chain is expensive and is the first thing a counterfeit thins.
Each of these is checked differently. The ones with their own page have enough that is specific to them to be worth reading separately.
A diamond-quilted flap with an aged-gold cassandre.
Read within the checks aboveA structured tote where the corners and the base studs carry the read.
Read within the checks aboveA slim chain bag defined almost entirely by its cassandre.
Read within the checks aboveAuthenticity and value are separate questions, and answering the first is usually a step towards the second. These are broad ranges for honest, unrestored condition — an orientation, never an appraisal.
| Line | Resale as share of retail | What moves it most |
|---|---|---|
| Loulou | 35 – 55% | Chain and quilt condition |
| College | 35 – 55% | Hardware finish |
| Sac de Jour | 30 – 50% | Corner wear |
| Kate | 35 – 55% | Cassandre condition |
Broad US secondary-market ranges for honest, unrestored condition.
Lovenhall BagThe checks tell you how it was made. The instrument tells you what it appears to be, and roughly what its kind fetches.