In the 1960s and 1970s, Yves Saint Laurent was able to popularize many fashion trends like the beatnik look, tight paired with thigh-high, very tall boots, safari jackets and the famous classis women's tuxedo suit in 1966 which was called Le Smoking suit. A couple of Yves Saint Laurent's most memorable collections would include the Ballet Russes, Pop Art, Picasso and Chinese ones. During the 1920s to the 1940s, he started mainstreaming the concept of wearing silhouettes. In 1966, he was also the first who popularized ready-to-wear clothing as he attempted to democratize fashion, when he worked with Rive Gauche to open a boutique with the same name.

Yves Saint Laurent was the first who used black models for his catwalk shows. His muses included Loulou de La Falaise, Betty Catroux, Talitha Pol-Getty, and Catherine Deneuve all prominent personalities and famous icons. Diane Boulting-Casserley Vandelli, a London socialite millionaires and ambassador to the couturier in the late 1970s to the early 1980s made the brand more popular among the European jet-set as well as the upper classes.

For decades, the clothing of this fashion house has been known for having a refined and modern elegance. Many decades before Giorgio Armani even came into the fashion scene, Yves Saint Laurent clothing has already been able to glamorize for some "masculine" items like the blazer, the pant suit, tuxedo and the leather jacket to be worn by fashionable and the most stylish women.