Saint Laurent confirms the departure of Anthony Vaccarello

In a widely anticipated development, Saint Laurent and its star designer Anthony Vaccarello are parting ways.

The Parisian fashion house announced his departure in a brief statement Friday morning, noting that he “played a key role in the development of Saint Laurent, helping to strengthen its identity and influence in the worlds of fashion and culture,” and adding that it would soon unveil its new creative direction.

The announcement follows a Paris Fashion Week dominated by speculation that the Belgian designer would end his acclaimed 10-year tenure.

His all-gold spring 2027 show – the collection parading under three monumental chandeliers and in the shadow of a glittering Eiffel Tower – felt like a swan song, official or not.

Chemena Kamali, currently creative director of Chloé, is set to succeed Vaccarello and is no stranger to the house, having served as design director of women’s ready-to-wear under Vaccarello from 2016 to 2023, when she landed the top job at Chloé.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Anthony for his contribution to Saint Laurent over the past 10 years,” Luca de Meo, Kering CEO since September 2025, said in the statement. “Through his creative vision and his high standards, he has contributed to strengthening the lasting influence of one of the greatest French fashion houses, as we begin a new chapter in its history. »

Cédric Charbit, president and CEO of Saint Laurent, also “warmly” thanked Vaccarello for this dedication to the house.

“During his tenure, Anthony took Saint Laurent on a remarkable trajectory, elevating the house to the forefront of appeal and image, while doing exceptional work both creatively and in cultural impact,” he added.

Kering held a conference call with seller analysts Friday morning, telling them that “the decision was driven by Saint Laurent’s long-term prospects and was not related to the brand’s recent financial performance,” according to a Barclays memo.

“The new designer will focus on currently under-represented product categories such as women’s daywear and menswear, high-end leather goods and less penetrated regions like China and Asia,” Barclays added, noting that “due to the current trend of postponing leather goods,
Kering does not expect any disruption to the Saint Laurent product pipeline following the creative transition. »

The prospect of Vaccarello’s departure was viewed with a jaundiced eye by some fashion insiders, given the Belgian designer’s large fan base and multiple signs of his successful collaboration.

The house orchestrated a slew of magazine covers and articles tied to Vaccarello’s 10th anniversary at home this year, and was set to release an artful 90-minute documentary on the designer’s winning approach, produced by Terminal 9 Studios.

The Lyst Index, a ranking of the hottest online fashion brands and products, places Saint Laurent in its top 5 over the past 10 quarters.

Vaccarello will receive the International Designer of the Year trophy at the 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards on November 2 in New York, and he is one of six nominees for the Designer of the Year title at this year’s Fashion Awards, a fundraiser for the British Fashion Council, scheduled for November 30 in London.

Kering, parent company of Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Brioni, McQueen and several jewelry houses, no longer details its revenues by brand except Gucci, but notes that Saint Laurent returned to growth in the first half of 2026.

“The house delivered a strong performance in North America and Western Europe and benefited from strong customer demand, as new collections continued to gain traction,” it said in a statement last July.

At comparable exchange rates, Saint Laurent’s 2025 turnover fell 6% to 2.64 billion euros, compared to a 19% drop for Gucci.

A hot-blooded and daring amateur fashion designer, Brussels-born Vaccarello studied sculpture at La Cambre and put himself on the international fashion radar in 2006 when he won first place at the Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival for his collection inspired by Italian porn star La Cicciolina.

He then worked at Fendi and launched his eponymous collection in Paris in 2009. Two years later, he won the ANDAM fashion prize and was recruited in 2013 by Donatella Versace to relaunch the Versus brand.

Once installed at Saint Laurent, he became one of the most formidable showmen of Paris Fashion Week, erecting breathtaking sets at the foot of the Eiffel, installing a monumental waterfall one season, a giant hydrangea hedge with the house’s Cassandra logo the next.

It evoked the essence of Saint Laurent with strong-shouldered cuts, fleshy leather jackets and faux furs, bright colors, gauzy cocktail dresses, statement jewelry and sky-high heels, typically focusing each show on a particular silhouette or juicy slice of the brand’s history.

Unusual for a French megabrand, it has almost never presented handbags on the catwalks – a wallet at most – while the brand has sold numerous Sac de Jour, Icare, Amalia and 5 à 7 models.

WWD reported last February that the brand had quietly recruited Johnny Coca, one of the industry’s most prominent and accomplished handbag designers. He previously worked for Louis Vuitton, Céline and Mulberry.

Vaccarello kept an iron grip on Saint Laurent’s image – party photos were always in black and white only – while expanding his cultural affiliations, including creating Saint Laurent Productions in 2023 to produce short and feature films by the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodóvar and Jacques Audiard.

During its short life, the production company has already won several international awards for “Emilia Pérez” and “Father Mother Sister Brother”.

Vaccarello also created Saint Laurent Editions, specializing in books, zines and fine art, with a dedicated retail/gallery space called Saint Laurent Babylone on the Left Bank of Paris.

His entourage included Madonna, actress Zoë Kravitz and Connor Storrie, models Kate Moss and Anja Rubik, singers Rosé and Charlotte Gainsbourg, as well as legendary figures from Yves’ era like Catherine Deneuve and Betty Catroux.

The designer is known primarily for his women’s designs, although he has recently put more energy into Saint Laurent menswear, staging intimate shows at the Pinault family’s Bourse de Commerce art museum and drawing inspiration from the founder’s signature style and his womenswear collections.

Considered one of the Holy Grails of Parisian fashion, Saint Laurent owes its prestige and fame to a founder who once had such a tight-knit fashion track record that if he made a slight change in a hemline or a subtle shift in the waistline, the repercussions would reverberate around the world.

Yves Saint Laurent is often cited as the inventor of ready-to-wear through the launch in 1966 of his Rive Gauche collection. He became known for beatnik fashion, safari jackets, his iconic Ballets Russes collection, his unrivaled sense of color combinations, the artistry of his tailoring, his designer denim and the launch of a major perfume and beauty company with a designer name.

Successors to the legendary couturier, who retired from couture in 2002 and died in 2008 at the age of 71, also include Alber Elbaz, Tom Ford, Stefano Pilati and Hedi Slimane, who served two terms: at the helm of the brand’s Rive Gauche Homme collection in the late ’90s, then from 2012 to 2016 for a vast “reform project” that included the abbreviation of the brand name.

Reportedly, Kering plans to build on the foundations left by Vaccarello, seeing significant potential to expand the brand’s offerings across daywear, menswear and jewelry.

At the group’s Capital Markets Day last April in Florence, de Meo told analysts that “the next chapter will be how to wake up and reinvigorate icons, to transform them into iconic products that go beyond the fashion cycle.”

Furthermore, Saint Laurent aims to double its sales to VICs by 2030, and to double its activity in Asia within the same period.