Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent, who had succeeded Dior at twenty-one, founded his own house with Pierre Bergé in 1961 and proceeded to hand women the male wardrobe: Le Smoking tuxedo in 1966 — photographed by Helmut Newton into permanent iconography — the safari jacket, the pantsuit, the sheer blouse. His 1966 Rive Gauche line made him the first couturier to take ready-to-wear seriously as a creative act rather than a diffusion. The house's Paris archives are now a museum in his former studio. Under its current direction the label trades in sharp-shouldered, rock-inflected tailoring that keeps faith with the founder's silhouette. The Mall outlet outside Florence offers the house at reduced prices — worthwhile for the tailoring and leather goods, where the design constants hold. A black YSL blazer remains one of fashion's few genuinely permanent purchases.

At the outlet, hold out for the tailoring and leather rather than logo pieces — the cut is the house's permanent asset and discounts on it are the real find.