Published on June 1, 2008

“In 1977, he named one of his women's perfumes Opium, which led to charges that he was glamorizing drug use and trivializing the 19th-century Opium Wars in China,” a recent obituary in IHT read.

The “he” in question is none other that Yves Saint Laurent, who died on Sunday in Paris at the age of 71.

HONG KONG - “In 1977, he named one of his women's perfumes Opium, which led to charges that he was glamorizing drug use and trivializing the 19th-century Opium Wars in China,” a recent obituary in IHT read.

The “he” in question is none other that Yves Saint Laurent, who died on Sunday in Paris at the age of 71.

In fact, around the time of Opium's launch, rumors circulated that Yves Saint Laurent was dead. Opium for Men was launched in 1995, together with the relaunch of the female version.

The banning of the fragrance Opium in China is discussed in a 2000 editorial in Investor's Business Daily by John Berlau.

Oriental influences have always been present in Yves Saint Laurent's career, and a 1994 article from The New York Times entitled “Yves Saint Laurent Dreams of China” discusses these influences in a collection from that year.

In 2004, Tom Ford chose Yves Saint Laurent's 1977 Chinese collection of brocade jackets and pagoda hats as the inspiration for his farewell collection for YSL Rive Gauche .

The designer said that the clothes represented "the China of my dreams."