And guess what? Change sounds pretty sweet to Pierre Bergé.

‘I’m very happy,’ he told WWD. ‘Anything that makes the house more Saint Laurent is welcome.’

A YSL representative (we can still call it that, right?) elaborated on Slimane’s plans yesterday, describing the new name as a return to the designer’s ‘original branding’. The new name is geared toward ‘restoring the house to its truth, purity and essence—and taking it into a new era’, while still ‘respecting the original principles and ideals’.

When Saint Laurent (the designer) launched ready-to-wear in the mid-1960s, he called it Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, making the transition to ‘Saint Laurent Paris’ less a departure than a return to form.

As expected, the iconic YSL logo will remain in place.

But back to Bergé. Famously protective of his late partner’s reputation and legacy, the businessman praised new creative director Slimane’s arrival and slated his predecessors. ‘I am happy that Stefano Pilati is gone, just as I was happy when Tom Ford left,’ he told the paper.

Bergé also thinks it’s more than fine for Slimane to maintain a creative base in Los Angeles rather than relocating to Paris to oversee YSL.

‘The creative studio is in a designer’s head, it resides within the person,’ he said. ‘Hedi lives in Los Angeles. He should be left to do fashion in a city he likes.’

The background on Slimane's YSL name change plans