As one of the most overly-developed parfum branches, Yves Saint Laurent parfum has recently launched two new reinforcements from existing fragrances: L’Homme and Elle. The former has now extended to an evening note ‘La Nuit de L’Homme’; and the latter, namely ‘Elle Shocking’, which presumably has turned into a stronger eau de toilette.

La Nuit de L’Homme | Formerly fronted by Olivier Martinez, YSL parfum tends to get French male star to front their parfum campaign, do they really sell better? Never a big fan of Vicent Cassel, don’t think his *masculinity* represent the Saint Laurent male image (past and present) well either, but maybe he’s an ultimate heartthrob/icon to French, I don’t know. Guess they are targeting the European market more than the rest of the world. Under the lens of Mert & Marcus, Cassel’s appearance is expectedly dark and evil but not mysterious, rather the bad guy than James Bond like, flanked by formidable accessories: Jourdan and Danijela, their presence, I think, helped tremendously. (TVC)

Elle Shocking | Taking over from CoCo Rocha, model du jour Anna Selezneva does a better job to my liking. Shot by Terry Richardson, Selezneva, who once impersonated Carine Roitfeld at [VogueParis], is undoubtably darker, sexier and sultrier than sunshine girl-next-door Rocha’s previous heavily make-up image; as the green apple persona never quite fit the house of Saint Laurent. IMO, this visual is quite modern to the house’s standard due to the Emmanuelle Alt/VogueParis-esuqe spirit. (TVC)

Both featured in the classic le Smoking, addressing hints of evening function. Both parfum bottles are placed on the right bottom side, which is almost a Saint Laurent parfum tradition. Below shown are some iconic images from the archive. They are strong, artistic, iconic, and commercially powerful all at the same time.