Saint Laurent has announced the departure of Anthony Vaccarello, who has led the French fashion house’s creative direction since 2016.
In a statement issued by parent company Kering on October 9, executives thanked Vaccarello for a decade that strengthened the house’s identity and influence across fashion and culture. Kering chief executive Luca de Meo praised his creative vision and exacting standards as the brand begins a new chapter. Saint Laurent’s president and chief executive, Cedric Charbit, said Vaccarello had elevated the house’s desirability and image through creative work and cultural impact.
The house said it will announce new creative leadership soon. It did not name a successor in the release and did not give a reason for the departure. That silence will fuel speculation, but the documented facts are the departure itself, the decade-long tenure and the company’s public gratitude.
Vaccarello’s final collection added to the sense of an ending. His spring show in Paris, staged in front of the Eiffel Tower in late September, leaned heavily on gold before closing in black. Fashion coverage read the sequence as a farewell gesture, though such interpretations belong to critics rather than to the company’s announcement.
During his tenure, Saint Laurent became one of Kering’s most stable performers, known for sharp tailoring, high heels, slip dresses and a nocturnal Parisian image that translated from runway to retail. Reports around the departure describe a house in a comparatively strong commercial position, which makes the timing notable: this is a leadership change at a successful brand, not an emergency rescue at a failing one.
The move is also the biggest personnel change at a major Kering brand since de Meo, a former car-industry executive, became chief executive last year. Kering faces a difficult luxury market, with weak demand from China and broader economic concerns affecting the sector. A new Saint Laurent designer will be expected to preserve a recognisable identity while giving buyers and customers a reason to look again.
Fashion houses live on controlled reinvention. Change the designer too gently and the brand can look tired; change too sharply and loyal customers may leave. Vaccarello spent ten years underlining the founder’s codes rather than erasing them. His successor must decide how much of that language to keep.
Saint Laurent’s next announcement will therefore matter beyond one job title. It will signal how Kering wants its most stable house to compete in a slower luxury market: continuity, surprise, or a careful mixture of both.
Vaccarello’s departure follows a season of creative-director changes across luxury fashion, as houses respond to slower growth by seeking new energy at the top. Saint Laurent’s case is distinctive because the outgoing designer leaves a clear, commercially successful formula rather than a confused one. Kering must now decide whether the next name is a celebrity appointment, an internal promotion or a quieter craftsman, and how much freedom that person gets to break the codes Vaccarello polished. Fashion remembers farewells that looked like endings and became renewals. The new leadership announcement, promised soon, will be the first test of whether Saint Laurent intends continuity with a new accent or a genuine change of voice.
Related reading: London Film Festival Opens 70th Edition With Elsinore Premiere · Ayushmann Khurrana and Sara Ali Khan Comedy Udta Teer Opens in Cinemas
