RED is well known as a symbol for luck for Chinese and it's a cultural element that the house of Yves Saint Laurent has latched on to with great success.

'The new boutique concept that we have launched here in Singapore at ION Orchard is a tribute to our iconic lacquered Opium (red) colour,' says Marc Durie, YSL's Asia Pacific president. 'It has been very well received by our Chinese customers because it makes them feel good.'

Adds Mr Durie in an exclusive interview with BT: 'This colour was used by Mr Saint Laurent for the bottle of Opium perfume which was launched in 1997. In order to recreate this colour, the team had to destroy the drawer of an 18th century piece of furniture and extract the paint pigments from it.'

In town for the store's official opening last week, Mr Durie reveals that the decision to go with the Opium colour scheme was a reflection of YSL creative director Stefano Pilati's desire to go back to the roots of the fashion house with his upcoming designs. 'It shows the way Stefano sees the future of the house - that he respects and wants to reintroduce the DNA of the brand', he says.

Returning to their roots has been a growing trend amongst the big fashion houses, especially if the latest Paris Couture Week was anything to go by. Fashion houses from Dior to Chanel to Armani were eager to revisit and recreate iconic looks and YSL is no different.

According to Mr Durie, this is because consumers are now looking for authenticity when it comes to their fashion purchases.

'I don't think that designs that are out of this world will cut it at the moment. With the economic crisis, customers are looking for timeless, iconic products that are a bit less fashionable but more long lasting,' he explains.

'If you look at our figures, you'll notice that sales are concentrated on iconic items that are extremely representative of the house - such as the leopard print for our ready to wear and the Muse and Easy bags - because customers feel reassured when they buy these products. This will be the direction that we will take for the brand for the next few seasons. We are very lucky that Mr Saint Laurent left us very strong design values to build upon.'

He admits however, that the economic crisis has taught many luxury brands, YSL included, some harsh lessons. One of which is the importance of customer relations.

'The crisis served to remind us that at the core of our business is the customer and their desires. I think that over the past few years, many luxury brands were so caught up with the whole 'power of the brand' idea and forgot that they should be catering to the needs of the consumers instead. So I think in that sense, we were taught something that is profitable for the long term development of the brand.'

That being said, perhaps the red colour scheme of the boutique will bring the brand some luck in Singapore as YSL attempts to reach out to the spending tourists in Singapore, most of whom are from China. The Chinese, who together with the Russians make up the bulk of tourist expenditure at YSL Singapore, may very well appreciate the store's symbolic good fortune.

'The tourist flow in Singapore is very important to us because 50 per cent of our customers are tourists who come to Singapore to shop en route to Bali,' insists Mr Durie.

'Nine years ago when we first started in Singapore it was totally different, there weren't so many people travelling in from China but now, they are everywhere and we have learnt that the tourists love Ion.'

But not happy to rest on its laurels, Mr Durie reveals that YSL has very ambitious plans in Asia and that a second YSL boutique is due to open next year at Marina Bay Sands.

He concludes: 'We have a strong historical link with Asia. Mr Saint Laurent was one of the first European designers to do a show in Japan in 1962 and he was the first couturier to do an exhibition at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1995. So a lot of the DNA of the brand is linked to its history with Asia.

'In fact, with the new direction taken by Stefano, we are seeing him create a lot more products that are important for the Asian market in particular which will definitely help us further develop the brand here. We definitely see big potential for the region.'

This article was first published in The Business Times