Saint Laurent has formally announced the departure of Anthony Vaccarello from his role as creative director, with the Paris fashion house stating that a successor to lead the label's creative direction would be named in the near term.
A statement from the house described Vaccarello's tenure as a period in which he contributed to building the label's identity and extending its reach across fashion and culture. Kering's chairman, who took up the position in September 2025, conveyed personal thanks to Vaccarello for a decade of work at Saint Laurent. Cédric Charbit, president and chief executive officer of Saint Laurent, also expressed appreciation for Vaccarello's work during his time at the house, noting that the designer had guided the label toward greater visibility and cultural presence.
A former women's ready-to-wear design director who held that post under Vaccarello between 2016 and 2023 and subsequently led Chloé is understood to be among those being considered for the creative director position.
Questions about Vaccarello's place at the house had already been circulating by the time Paris Fashion Week drew to a close, and the departure came against that backdrop of unresolved conjecture.
Born and raised in Brussels, Vaccarello completed his training in sculpture at La Cambre before a first-place finish at the 2006 Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography brought his work to wider attention — a turning point that arrived when he was in his mid-twenties. A spell at Fendi preceded his move to Paris, where a collection bearing his own name took shape for the first time in 2009.
In 2011, recognition from the ANDAM fashion programme followed, and by 2013 Donatella Versace had appointed him to lead the Versus label. Productions on a grand scale at the base of the Eiffel Tower became a hallmark of Vaccarello's tenure at Saint Laurent, establishing a profile at Paris Fashion Week that drew considerable attention.
Tailoring with pronounced shoulders, supple leather jackets, vivid colour palettes, cocktail dresses, ornamental jewellery, and footwear that placed the heel at the fore were among the defining elements observers associated with his collections.
A film production division he established in 2023 has since backed projects from directors including Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodóvar, and Jacques Audiard. Among the accolades gathered by the production company across international competitions, honours tied to "Emilia Pérez" and "Father Mother Sister Brother" stand out. Vaccarello also brought Saint Laurent Editions into being and opened Saint Laurent Babylone — a combined retail and gallery venue — along the Left Bank of Paris.
For ten consecutive quarters — a period of twenty-five months — Saint Laurent held a position within the Lyst Index's uppermost five-ranked labels. Measured against equivalent exchange rates, the fashion house's Saint Laurent division posted full-year 2025 revenue of 2.64 billion euros, a figure that came in six per cent below the prior year's result.
A Kering statement from July pointed to gains across North American and Western European markets as evidence that new collections had built sufficient traction to move the house into positive territory for the first half of 2026. Vaccarello is listed as the recipient of the International Designer of the Year honour at the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York City on 2 November and is among six nominees for the Designer of the Year prize at the Fashion Awards scheduled for London on 30 November.
Plans attributed to Kering would see Saint Laurent broaden its offer across daywear, menswear, and jewellery, with the house aiming to double revenue from its top-spending clientele and grow its Asian footprint twofold, both targets set against a 2030 horizon.
