YSL China: Brand Ambassadors, Best Sellers and Lessons for 2026
Updated
YSL China is really two businesses that share one logo. YSL Beauty (makeup and fragrance) belongs to L’Oréal, and Saint Laurent (fashion and leather goods) belongs to Kering. Both have had a good run in China, both picked their Chinese faces with care, and both hit friction in 2025 and 2026. This update covers who the official YSL brand ambassadors in China are, with dates, what sells, how the brand localises, and what a smaller brand can copy without YSL’s budget.
Jon Wang, founder, writing from our small team in Shanghai.
I track celebrity and KOL deals for beauty and fashion clients every week, because picking the wrong face in China costs more than picking none.
YSL China at a glance: two brands, two stories
In Chinese, both sides of the house are called 圣罗兰 (Shèng Luólán), and shoppers often just say “YSL”. That shared name hides a real split. YSL Beauty sells lipsticks, cushions and perfume at a price a student can save up for. Saint Laurent sells bags and ready-to-wear to a much smaller group. The two sides sign separate contracts, run separate stores and report to separate parent groups, so their China results do not move together.
That matters for the numbers. Bain & Company’s China luxury report, published on 29 January 2026, says the mainland personal luxury market contracted by 3% to 5% in 2025, while beauty was the strongest category, growing 4% to 7%. Put simply, YSL Beauty was riding the one luxury category that grew, and Saint Laurent fashion had to fight a shrinking market.
YSL brand ambassadors in China: the confirmed list
Many pages list “YSL ambassadors” by copying fan accounts. Below are only the China appointments I could match to a brand announcement reported by trade press, with the date. Global faces such as Dua Lipa or Zoë Kravitz are left out, because their contracts are not China deals.
| Name | Brand side and title | Date announced |
|---|---|---|
| Song Jia (宋佳) | Saint Laurent brand ambassador for China (ready-to-wear) | 25 September 2024 |
| Song Jia (宋佳) | Adds the YSL fragrance role, promoting Libre (自由之水). First YSL ambassador in China with two titles | First day of Chinese New Year, January 2025 |
| Gulnazar (古力娜扎) | Saint Laurent brand ambassador in China, fronting the Qixi capsule | July 2024 |
| Chris Lee (李宇春) | YSL Beauty ambassador for makeup and skincare, “Dress the Change” campaign | Campaign dated April 2021 |
| Yang Yang (杨洋) | Saint Laurent eyewear ambassador, Asia Pacific | April 2017 |
Sources: Jing Daily for Song Jia’s dual role and her 2024 appointment, Gulnazar’s July 2024 appointment and Song Jia’s place in the Fall 2025 campaign; Moodie Davitt Report for Yang Yang; Digitaling’s campaign archive for Chris Lee. Song Jia also appeared in Saint Laurent’s Fall 2025 campaign in August 2025, next to Rosé and Liu Wen, which tells you she is a global-level face and not a local add-on.
Why Song Jia? Jing Daily notes her lead role in the drama She and Her Girls scored 9.0 on Douban, and she had close to 13 million Weibo followers at the time. She is not the youngest or the loudest star. She is credible, independent and over 40, which fits the “free woman” line YSL sells with Libre. Brands that chase traffic stars often get a spike and then a scandal. YSL chose fit over reach, and I think that is the right lesson.
A note on rumours: fan accounts and some outlets attach new names to YSL after every Paris show. Treat any name without an official post on YSL’s own Weibo or WeChat as unconfirmed, and do not build a campaign brief on it.
What is happening to YSL in China right now
- YSL Beauty sits in the growing part of luxury, but local rivals are closer than before. Domestic premium beauty brands such as Mao Geping and Florasis are moving upmarket fast and crowding YSL’s price band, especially on Douyin.
- L’Oréal’s China business turned up in late 2025. Caixin reported in February 2026 that L’Oréal posted mid-single-digit growth in mainland China in the second half of 2025, after a weak start to the year. YSL Beauty is one of the group’s main luxury engines, so this is the tide it swims in.
- Saint Laurent fashion has to work harder. The Beijing Sanlitun cultural flagship drives buzz, and the brand’s sharp tailoring lands well with Chinese professional women. But fashion and leather goods did not share beauty’s growth in 2025.
- A 2026 flashpoint over returns. In May 2026, reporters found that Saint Laurent’s official Taobao flagship would not accept orders sent to Yingfeng subdistrict (盈丰街道) in Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan district, an area packed with live-streaming businesses. Orders to other parts of Hangzhou went through. Customer service said account and address factors can block purchases. Media linked it to “wear it once, send it back” behaviour, though no return-rate figure was published.
YSL top products in China
In makeup and fragrance:
- YSL cushion foundation (气垫), a steady top seller on Tmall and Douyin and a regular in Double 11 bundles.
- Water Stain Lip Lacquer (黑管唇釉) and Encre de Peau foundation (恒久粉底液), longstanding hero SKUs that Chinese beauty bloggers still swatch every season.
- Libre (自由之水), the fragrance Song Jia fronts. L’Oréal itself called Libre and MYSLF “blockbusters” in its July 2025 half-year results.
In fashion:
- LE 5 A 7 Hobo bag, one of the Saint Laurent bags I see most often in Xiaohongshu outfit notes from Shanghai and Beijing, competing for the same buyer as Miu Miu and Prada’s soft shoulder bags.
Is YSL made in China?
This is one of the most searched YSL questions, so here is the short answer. YSL Beauty fragrances are made by L’Oréal in France. Journal du Luxe reports that L’Oréal’s Gauchy plant in northern France is a production base for luxury fragrances including Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, and the group is investing €60 million to expand it. Saint Laurent bags and shoes are sold as made in Italy, where Kering runs its leather and shoe production.
For Chinese buyers this is not trivia. “Made in France” and “made in Italy” are part of why a Chinese shopper pays luxury prices, and fake “factory outlet” listings on second-tier platforms often claim Chinese origin to explain a low price. If a listing says the product is made in China, check the seller before you buy.
Localisation moves that actually worked
| Initiative | Why it worked |
|---|---|
| Song Jia as first dual fashion and fragrance ambassador, launched on Chinese New Year 2025 | Strong “independent woman” fit, and the holiday launch gave Libre a gifting angle |
| “亲密有界，爱无界” (Boundaries in love, love without boundaries), the Chinese version of the global “Abuse is not love” programme | A literal translation would have sounded aggressive. The softer Chinese line opened a conversation young people actually wanted to have |
| Valentine’s Day campaigns pushed harder than Chinese New Year in 2021 | YSL’s core lipstick buyer spends on romance dates, and the brand owned that moment instead of fighting for CNY attention |
My take as a marketer in Shanghai
YSL’s story in China is not only about French luxury. It is about knowing when to be bold and when to fit in.
What stands out is how YSL Beauty turned a hard Western message, “abuse is not love”, into a calm conversation about boundaries. That is not translation. That is real localisation.
The rise of Mao Geping and other Chinese premium brands is a real check. YSL cannot lean on international prestige forever. The fight is moving from logo power to cultural relevance, and in China no foreign brand wins that by standing still.
The Yingfeng episode was ugly but understandable. Live-streaming hubs that buy, film and return are a broken system, and Saint Laurent took the heat for saying so with its order settings. Many luxury brands in China quietly agree.
The bigger opportunity is to keep the “rebel with a cause” position. Chinese women today do not want pretty. They want strong, and YSL has the heritage to own that.
What a smaller brand can copy from YSL in China
You do not need YSL’s budget to use YSL’s playbook. Sell where Chinese buyers already shop: Tmall, JD and especially Douyin, where live commerce moves volume (our Douyin marketing guide for brands covers the basics). Pick one cultural angle and commit, the way YSL built its boundaries campaign, rather than scattering small stunts. Watch your return rates if you sell through live-streaming hubs, because high returns quietly kill margin.
On faces: a small brand cannot sign Song Jia, but it can apply the same rule of fit over fame. Ten mid-sized Xiaohongshu creators whose followers match your buyer will do more than one celebrity post. We explain the trade-offs in celebrity endorsement for luxury in China, and the cheaper route in how small beauty brands compete in the Chinese market.
Picture a hypothetical example. Claudia runs a niche French perfume house and spends about ¥400,000 on two lifestyle KOLs for a Tmall Global launch. The posts get likes, and the store gets fewer than 100 orders in a month. The KOLs’ audiences were large but young and price-driven; nobody had a reason to pay ¥1,200 for a bottle. In month two she moves the same budget to 40 fragrance-focused Xiaohongshu creators with small but loyal followings, each writing a long “scent diary” note, and adds a ¥99 sample set on Tmall. The notes rank in Xiaohongshu search for “小众香水” (niche perfume) for weeks, and sample buyers convert to full bottles. Orders climb to a few hundred a month. Not a YSL result, but profitable, and it worked for the same reason Song Jia works for Libre: the face matched the buyer.
Bottom line: YSL is winning in China, but staying on top means staying humble, staying local, and never faking the rebellion.
Questions we get about YSL in China
Who is YSL’s brand ambassador in China?
Actress Song Jia is the main face. Saint Laurent named her China brand ambassador for ready-to-wear on 25 September 2024, and on the first day of Chinese New Year 2025 she added the YSL fragrance role for Libre, the first YSL ambassador in China with two titles. Actress Gulnazar was named a Saint Laurent China ambassador in July 2024.
What is YSL’s Chinese name?
YSL is called 圣罗兰 (Shèng Luólán) in China, a phonetic rendering of “Saint Laurent”. Shoppers also say “YSL” directly, and the beauty line often appears as “YSL圣罗兰美妆” on Tmall and Douyin. Using the Chinese name in search ads and Xiaohongshu tags matters, because many buyers type it rather than the English.
Is YSL made in China?
No. YSL Beauty fragrances are produced by L’Oréal in France, including at its Gauchy plant, and Saint Laurent bags and shoes are sold as made in Italy. A listing that claims YSL products are made in China is a warning sign about the seller.
Is the luxury market in China growing in 2026?
Slowly. Bain says the mainland personal luxury market shrank 3% to 5% in 2025, a much smaller fall than in 2024, and expects modest growth in 2026. Beauty grew 4% to 7% in 2025 and was the strongest category. Bain also estimates 65% of Chinese luxury spending now happens inside mainland China.
Building a beauty or fashion brand’s face in China
We help small beauty and fashion brands pick celebrities, KOLs and creators who match their buyer, then get that content seen on Douyin and Xiaohongshu. If you want the YSL logic at a startup budget, start with our PR and KOL agency service in China.
Tell us your product, price and target city on our contact page, and we reply with a first shortlist of creator profiles.