Yves Saint Laurent announced last month that it was dropping the Yves from its ready-to-wear line, and the logo looks to have shed a little weight as well.

A big departure from the brand's iconic intertwining YSL letters, the new logo (revealed on its Facebook page) is all caps in white type on a black background, signaling a return to an earlier period of the company when the logo type was much simpler and straightforward. New York magazine notes commenters on the brand's Facebook page harrumphing at the change. "Where's the iconography? This is not iconic," said one. "YSL without the Y is not YSL," wrote another.

Looks like recently appointed creative director Hedi Slimane is going to have a lot of defending to do while designing the next line of clothes and bags — or NYC T-shirt company Rocksmith may feel compelled to cover up the brand's logo yet again.

Hedi Slimane, newly installed creative director of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion empire, is reportedly spurring the iconic brand name and signature logo created in 1961 at the inception of the house to Saint Laurent Paris. “For Slimane to make the decision to change YSL to SLP before his first collection for the label has been shown is a strong statement about regime change. Clearly, Slimane intends to do things his way," commented the Guardian.

“WWD assures us that the classic YSL logo 'will not disappear,'" reports Racked. In fact, Slimane's rebranding looks to the past as well as the future: He's hoping to tap into the sense of youth and modernity that Yves himself captured with his Saint Laurent Rive Gauche ready-to-wear line in 1966.”

Update: Yves Saint Laurent provided the following statement to brandchannel clarifying the evolution of its branding:

The YSL logo, created by Cassandre in 1961, will remain intact and the name Yves Saint Laurent will continue to be used and represent the fashion house. The Ready-To-Wear line, originally called "Saint Laurent Rive Gauche" in 1966, will now be called "Saint Laurent Paris." Therefore the principal change will be the RTW’s name, "Saint Laurent Paris" and the fashion house will continue to go by the name Yves Saint Laurent. Continue reading...

Here's the final runway show by Stefano Pilati for Yves Saint Laurent: the YSL women's fall/winter 2012-2013 ready to wear line, which debuted last night at Paris Fashion Week to a mostly positive reception. Pilati, who was last week unceremoniously dumped by Yves Saint Laurent, is expected to be replaced by Hedi Slimane.Continue reading...