FIVE Ways To Authenticate A REAL Yves Saint Laurent Scarf
Hello friends! Today I want to chat about how to authenticate an Yves saint Laurent silk scarf. As you might know, I love wearing silk scarves and back when I worked in the fashion industry, I worked for a scarf brand. So I’m well trained in the printing process, craftsmanship, design process and silks which go into making a traditional luxury silk scarf.
I’m hoping by the end of this post, you will be able to tell the difference between an authentic Yves Saint Laurent silk scarf and a copy cat dupe version of the iconic YSL brand.
Also, back when I worked in fashion, I worked for a silk scarf brand, so I know a lot about silk, printing, craftsmanship and also the finishing process, so I really hope that my expert knowledge will help you understand how special a luxury silk scarf is, as well as how to authenticate YSL scarves and designer scarves in general. As a lot of these tips apply to other designer brands like Chanel, Hermes, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Dior.
Before we get started, my scarf is a vintage Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) item, so whilst the name has changed slightly over the years, the main points stay the same. Also, I have shot my authentic YSL scarf next to a counterfeit designer scarf so that you can see the difference in the printing and finishing. I really hope this helps!
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Look at the edges – are they hand rolled?!
First up! Look at the edges of the scarf, this is the first thing I look at when I’m authenticating a scarf and shopping for new scarves. If a designer brand is making scarves without hand rolled edges, I will not buy them. They have to be hand rolled. What does this mean? It means that when the scarf was being made, instead of the silk being filed and stitched, much like you would hem a garment, instead the silk edges are finely rolled into itself and secured with tiny, delicate hand stitches. The edge is a rolled cylinder shape and the stitches are tiny little pin prick stitches with very little visible thread and most of the thread is on the inside of the roll. It’s a very skilled process and not many people or factories have the ability to do it. Not only that, but it’s an expensive process so this is where dupes and counterfeits will often cut corners.
If you look closely at the picture, you can see that the scarf on the left, the Yves Saint Laurent scarf has these tiny stitches securing the hand rolled edges, where as the counterfeit scarf on the right has a machine rolled edge with much more visible thread.
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Check the logo!
Next up, I look at the logo. If you are not familiar with the YSL and Yves Saint Laurent logo, then start looking on google images and the YSL website to see the logo. You want to really familiarise yourself with the finer details of the logo, how the letters are spaced, which letters touch, the proportions of the YSL compared to the other letters and so on. Also, it should be spelt correctly. You want to look closely at the logo, make sure it’s all as it should be. Of course, logos change over the years, so if you are looking at a vintage scarf, you can always google images of the vintage logo and labels, but it’s important to really familiarise yourself with the logo, font, lettering, spacing and so on, as this is often where counterfeits slip up.
Look at the print quality
Next up, look at the print quality. My YSL scarf features flowers in a very traditional, painterly style. If you look closely, it’s almost like a painting, you can see the beautiful gradients of the colours on the leaves and petals and it’s all perfectly printed. There’s also lots of lovely intricate detail, which is again, beautifully executed. There’s no smudges, no overlapping and no bad ‘colouring in’. It’s all very beautifully and meticulously done. Where as if you look at the counterfeit version, there is lots of overlapping of colours, there’s no intricate detail, the colours get ‘muddy’ in places and there’s just very little craftsmanship to the print quality.
Look at the fabric
These days, most silk scarves are made from silk twill, which is a heavier, thicker silk, but because my scarf is vintage, it is made from a slightly less heavy crepe style silk. It’s got a lovely tactile quality to it and it’s neither too matte, nor too shiny, It’s also not too soft and slippery. Silk scarves should have a little ‘grip’ to the texture as they should stay put once they have been knotted. If you knot the scarf and give it a shake, it shouldn’t come undone easily.
Is there a care label?
Annoyingly, mine has fallen off over the years, but if there is a care label, have a look at it. If it isn’t marked with YSL, don’t worry, that’s not a sign it’s fake, it’s pretty standard that luxury brands don’t put their name on the label. See this post about Celine scarves. However, you should look that it says Made in Italy (although sometimes it might be France, but usually Italy) and that it says 100% silk. Also, it should be stitched onto the scarf with just three stitches, one in each corner which sits on the hand rolled edge – it shouldn’t be stitched on the corner with is within the silk scarf as it might damage the fabric if the label is removed. Also, many women choose to remove these labels, so it’s not usual that they are fairly loosely sewn on, so if it’s fallen off, it’s not a bad sign.
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Thank you for reading my FIVE Ways To Authenticate A REAL YSL Yves Saint Laurent Scarf. I hope this post is of help! If you have any questions, please let me know. This post includes affiliate links.
