The era of Anthony Vaccarello at the helm of Saint Laurent has officially concluded, with the French luxury house confirming his departure as creative director today. This announcement marks the end of a significant ten-year tenure that saw the brand ascend to new heights of desirability and commercial success. Saint Laurent has stated that its new creative leadership will be revealed in the near future.
Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering, expressed his profound gratitude for Vaccarello’s contributions. "I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Anthony for his contribution to Saint Laurent over the past 10 years," de Meo stated. "Through his creative vision and exacting standards, he has contributed to strengthening the enduring influence of one of France’s greatest couture houses, as we embark on a new chapter in its history."
.jpg)
The news comes shortly after Vaccarello’s final show for the house, a Spring 2027 ready-to-wear collection presented last week in Paris. Nicole Phelps, in her review for Vogue, characterized Vaccarello as a designer of unwavering conviction. "He is as strong-willed as he is soft-spoken, a designer resolutely unwilling to bend to trends, and just as firm in his disregard for the democratization of fashion that is one of the dominant storylines of the season," Phelps wrote, presciently quoting Robert Frost: "Nothing gold can stay."
A Decade of Reinvention and Commercial Triumph
Anthony Vaccarello’s departure brings to a close a tenure whose longevity and remarkable success were far from guaranteed when he took the creative reins in April 2016. At the age of 36, he was appointed creative director just four days after the exit of Hedi Slimane. Vaccarello, already a respected figure in the industry, had garnered acclaim for his powerfully sensual designs as creative director of Versus Versace, a role he held from 2015, following earlier collaborations with the Italian house. His own eponymous label, launched in 2009, which he shuttered upon joining Saint Laurent, also showcased his distinctive aesthetic. His talent was further recognized with a win at the 2011 Andam Fashion Award, an accolade presented under the presidency of Pierre Bergé, co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent.
The shadow of Hedi Slimane’s highly successful four-year tenure loomed large. Under Slimane, Saint Laurent experienced a dramatic surge in revenue, climbing from €354 million in 2011 to €974 million in 2015. These figures presented a formidable challenge for any successor.
However, Vaccarello not only met but exceeded these expectations. He masterfully navigated the volatile luxury market between 2016 and 2023, weathering the economic fluctuations, including the COVID-19 pandemic. During his leadership, Saint Laurent’s revenues more than tripled, reaching an impressive €3.3 billion in 2022. This financial growth was further underscored by a recurring operating income of over 30%, translating to €1.019 billion. Kering’s full-year 2025 financial reports valued Saint Laurent at €2.6 billion.
The Vaccarello Aesthetic: Belgian Construction Meets Italian Sensuality
Vaccarello’s success can be attributed to a potent blend of progressive creativity, deeply rooted in his Belgian upbringing and education at La Cambre, and an innate understanding of provocative allure, inherited from his Sicilian heritage. In a 2015 interview with Vogue Australia, he articulated this duality: "I have the Belgian way to construct clothes, to be more into construction and deconstruction of clothes, and maybe my Italian side is the sexy side." This fusion translated into collections that were both structurally innovative and undeniably alluring.
Beyond his design prowess, Vaccarello’s ability to craft a compelling brand image was pivotal. He elevated Saint Laurent from the subcultural coolness epitomized by Slimane to a more universally aspirational and quintessentially Parisian modern fashion house. His debut show at the Trocadéro, with the Eiffel Tower as a dramatic backdrop, became Vogue Runway’s most-viewed show of that season. From Fall 2019 onwards, his collections began to not only reference but also expand upon and modernize the foundational codes of Yves Saint Laurent. He fearlessly tested the boundaries of the founder’s iconic silhouettes and design elements, creating collections that often possessed an almost unbearable visual tension.
A Final Collection of Golden Significance
Vaccarello’s final Saint Laurent collection, Spring 2027, presented on September 29th, precisely ten years and two days after his debut, served as a poignant culmination of his creative journey. Staged beneath the Eiffel Tower, illuminated by three towering, candlelit chandeliers, the show featured 49 looks primarily in shades of gold, concluding with 10 in black. The collection revisited house signatures such as Sahariennes, trench coats, pencil skirts, brocades, and evening dresses, all imbued with the amplified rigor that had become Vaccarello’s hallmark. The sequence of gold to black subtly mirrored and inverted the finale of Yves Saint Laurent’s Fall 1991 Rive Gauche collection, which had concluded with gold – a deliberate "fade to black" signaling an ending.
The atmosphere preceding the show was imbued with a sense of valedictory, as rumors of his departure had circulated since the summer. Vaccarello notably declined preview interviews, opting instead to send black calla lilies accompanied by a note describing the collection as deeply personal and emotional. The soundtrack, featuring Miles Davis’s score for Louis Malle’s film Elevator to the Gallows, further heightened the contemplative mood. The finale included a surprise performance by Charlotte Gainsbourg. As Vaccarello emerged, surrounded by his models, he crossed the runway to hand something to his son, a gesture widely interpreted as a symbolic passing of the torch, though its precise meaning remains open to interpretation. Regardless, it marked his definitive farewell to Saint Laurent.
Expanding the Saint Laurent Universe
Vaccarello’s influence extended beyond the runway. He mirrored and amplified the visionary spirit of the house’s founder, Yves Saint Laurent. Just as Saint Laurent had designed costumes for Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, Vaccarello spearheaded the launch of Saint Laurent Productions in 2023. This new venture has already produced critically acclaimed works, including the double Oscar-winning film Emilia Pérez and Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope. Furthermore, echoing Saint Laurent’s profound relationships with a select group of muses like Loulou de La Falaise and Betty Catroux, Vaccarello cultivated a contemporary circle of Saint Laurent women, including Anja Rubik and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who embody the house’s modern allure.
In 2018, Vaccarello reflected on the inherent nature of his role: "Everyone has a vision of what they think Saint Laurent should be, and that’s something I knew when I started. I knew that whatever I did, some people would love it and some would hate it. It was the same with Hedi, and Stefano [Pilati] before him. I’m fine with it. In fact, I kind of love it." This sentiment also echoes the experience of Tom Ford, who helmed the ready-to-wear collections from 2000 to 2004 following Gucci Group’s acquisition of the house.
Navigating Market Shifts and Future Ambitions
The period of Vaccarello’s creative direction coincided with significant shifts in the luxury landscape. While Saint Laurent experienced peak financial performance in 2022, the following three years saw declining revenues, reaching €2.64 billion in 2025, and a contraction in the operating margin from 30.9% to 20%. These figures reflect broader industry trends and Saint Laurent’s strategic repositioning away from wholesale in 2023. Despite these challenges, Vaccarello’s collections remained uncompromisingly distinct, reinterpreting Yves Saint Laurent’s revolutionary design legacy with a singular vision.
Francesca Bellettini, who had been president and CEO of Saint Laurent since 2013 and has since moved to Gucci, was succeeded at Yves Saint Laurent by Cédric Charbit in early 2025. Charbit, a seasoned executive within Kering, previously served as CEO of Balenciaga alongside Demna from 2016. His prior experience at Saint Laurent as executive vice president overseeing product, retail merchandising, and communication provided him with a deep understanding of the house’s operations and its trajectory under Vaccarello.
Charbit has publicly acknowledged the evolving nature of the luxury market, stating in May, "The industry’s growth has been extraordinary but not sustainable." Nevertheless, under Group CEO Luca de Meo, Kering remains focused on ambitious growth targets. By 2030, Saint Laurent aims to more than double its menswear sales, triple its jewelry sales, double its sales to Very Important Clients (VICs), and achieve a minimum of €500 million in sales within its entry-price categories. The responsibility of achieving these ambitious goals will now fall to Vaccarello’s successor.
Vaccarello himself has indicated a potential shift in his career focus, hinting at endeavors beyond the realm of fashion. In a 2024 interview with Pamela Golbin for The Wrap, he mused on his future, stating, "It’s complicated because just being here is already a dream. Saint Laurent, for me, is the most beautiful house, the Holy Grail of houses. What can top that? The only thing you can do is to start something completely different… We need to aspire to new dreams that I don’t necessarily have yet.”
Now 46, Anthony Vaccarello possesses ample time to formulate these new dreams and reflect on his decade-long stewardship of one of fashion’s most revered houses. His tenure at Saint Laurent will be remembered as a period of profound creative vision, astute commercial strategy, and a definitive reassertion of the brand’s iconic status in the global fashion landscape. The search for his successor promises to be one of the most closely watched in the industry, as the house prepares to write its next chapter.
