Anthony Vaccarello. Photo: Leibovitz Studio, Inc., Vogue , November 2025 Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story That golden goodbye has been made official: Anthony Vaccarello is stepping down as creative director of Saint Laurent, the house announced today. Saint Laurent will announce its new creative leadership soon.
Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering, said: “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Anthony for his contribution to Saint Laurent over the past 10 years. 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.”
In her review of what was today confirmed as the designer’s final show at the house last week in Paris, Nicole Phelps wrote that Vaccarello “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.” She concluded it, presciently, with the Robert Frost line: “Nothing gold can stay.”
Anthony Vaccarello’s last Saint Laurent show during PFW SS27 last week.
Cedric Charbit, president and CEO of Saint Laurent, said: “I would like to warmly thank Anthony for his ten years of dedication to the house. During his tenure, Anthony took Saint Laurent on a remarkable trajectory, elevating the house to the forefront of desirability and image, while accomplishing exceptional work both creatively and through his cultural impact.”
Today’s announcement ends a tenure whose timescale and success few would have bet on when it began in April 2016. Vaccarello was 36 when then-Saint Laurent CEO Francesca Bellettini appointed him as creative director just four days after Hedi Slimane’s departure.
At the time, Vaccarello was well regarded in the industry, following his sensually powerful output as creative director of Versace’s second line, Versus, which he had overseen since 2015 and collaborated with since 2013. From 2009, he also led his small but growing eponymous label, which he closed after taking the YSL job. Another feather in his cap was his win at the 2011 edition of the Andam Fashion Award, then under the presidency of Yves Saint Laurent co-founder Pierre Bergé.
Under Slimane’s four-year tenure as creative director, YSL brand revenue rose from €354 million in 2011 to €974 million in 2015: in business terms alone, Slimane’s seemed like huge Chelsea boots for Vaccarello to fill.
In extremely short order, the Belgian designer filled them and more, cresting the wave of growth that swelled across luxury between 2016 and 2023 (via the Covid slump). On his watch, Saint Laurent revenues more than tripled to €3.3 billion in 2022. Covid slump). Of that revenue, a sliver more than 30%, or €1.019 billion, was recurring operating income. Kering’s full-year 2025 figures place Saint Laurent’s value at €2.6 billion.
Vaccarello carved that path to success partly through a mix of progressive creativity drawn from his upbringing in Brussels and education at La Cambre , and an instinct for the provocatively propulsive that he inherited from his Sicilian parents. As he told Vogue Australia in 2015: “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.”
Another key factor was his image-making, whose aperture widened YSL’s scope beyon…