Anthony Vaccarello's decade at Saint Laurent: A retrospective
As a rumour circulates on social media that Anthony Vaccarello is leaving Saint Laurent, FashionUnited looks back at the key moments that have marked his 10-year career with the Kering group as artistic director for the house of Saint Laurent.
April 2016: Anthony Vaccarello succeeds Hedi Slimane
It was a high-risk succession. Slimane had been untouchable since the Dior Hommes miracle. He transformed Saint Laurent by removing the first name Yves, giving the brand his own rock aesthetic and crowning his approach with economic success. Turnover almost tripled under the Slimane era, rising from 353.7 million euros in 2011, the year before his arrival, to 974 million euros in 2015, according to the annual reports of PPR/Kering.
At the time, Vaccarello was 34 years old and closed his own house to devote himself to Saint Laurent. His time at Versus Versace was his most visible experience at a major house.
September 2016: early days in the footsteps of his elders
His first spring/summer 2017 show was therefore highly anticipated and scrutinised by a fashion world always eager for commentary. He followed in the footsteps of his predecessor – with black, leather and transparency – and those of the original couturier, Yves Saint Laurent – the tuxedo, 80s shoulders, leopard print, gold lamé and the YSL/Cassandre monogram.
September 2017: Anthony Vaccarello stages the Eiffel Tower
For the spring/summer 2018 collection show, Anthony Vaccarello set up at the Trocadéro, with the illuminated Eiffel Tower as a backdrop. This first visual signature orchestrated the brand's international influence: Saint Laurent is Paris, Paris is Saint Laurent.
October 2017: Betty Catroux, the meeting that explains it all
It was not until the young artistic director met Yves Saint Laurent's muse and best friend, Betty Catroux, that the artistic spark was truly ignited. Anthony Vaccarello met her at the inauguration of the Yves Saint Laurent museum in Marrakech.
“She is Saint Laurent as she breathes. Her allure, her mystery, her scandalous side, an elusive and desirable danger, all contribute to the aura of this house. You understand the scale of it when you meet Betty,” explained Vaccarello in the context of an exhibition dedicated to this muse in 2020, at the Yves Saint Laurent museum in Paris.
2019: Creation of Saint Laurent Rive Droite
Just as the Saint Laurent/Bergé duo embodied the Parisian Rive Gauche, Vaccarello has made the Rive Droite his own. At the end of his career, Yves Saint Laurent said: “I am just a name. A perfume, a lipstick, a pair of tights”.
At the beginning of his, Vaccarello expanded the Saint Laurent universe to include lifestyle and developed a brand image that includes art, photography, music, design and various collaborations. Like a conductor, he put his name to the architectural design of Saint Laurent Rive Droite.
February 2020: sensuality at the heart of the Saint Laurent woman
On the eve of the Covid-19 crisis, Vaccarello presented a show dominated by red, a premonitory colour that would be found in social news. For autumn/winter 2020/2021, the red is as ardent as the bourgeois woman who cheats the monotony of her days with torrid nights. Vaccarello presents this stage as “a defining moment in the definition of his Saint Laurent woman” (W Magazine, 2025).
Classic jackets, pussy-bow blouses, lace, vinyl, latex: Vaccarello explores the inherent sensuality of the Saint Laurent woman. Between glamour and provocation, this power of seduction was then imposed in all his campaigns.
July 2022: a menswear wardrobe at the crossroads of gender
From spring/summer 2023, the artistic director evolved the Saint Laurent man. To design his wardrobe, he once again drew on the heritage of Betty Catroux and her masculine-feminine style.
Pussy-bow blouses, jackets worn next to the skin, leopard prints, soft fabrics, drapes, asymmetries, transparent shirts and fluid trousers are all distinctive signs of a deconstructed man.
2022: Saint Laurent passes the three billion euro mark
Six years after Anthony Vaccarello's arrival as artistic director, Saint Laurent crossed the three billion euro turnover threshold for the first time. Sales reached 3.3 billion euros in 2022, compared to 1.22 billion in 2016. At the same time, recurring operating income exceeded one billion euros, for a margin of 30.9 percent. Source: Kering annual results.
2023: Vaccarello invests in cinema with Saint Laurent Productions
The first couture house to venture into film financing, Saint Laurent under the Vaccarello era began with a first short film, “Strange Way of Life”, by Madrid-based director Pedro Almodóvar.
The masterstroke came at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, with three films in competition, including “Emilia Pérez” by Jacques Audiard, which won numerous awards, including the Jury Prize and the collective Best Actress award at Cannes.
Some say that the branded costumes (the famous Rive Gauche T-shirt worn by Selena Gomez in Emilia Pérez) and the polished aesthetic blur the line between the director's artistic choices and the brand's expression. The tone has been set: Vaccarello has invented a way of investing in cinema other than product placement.
2026: 10 years and a stability that has become rare
Vaccarello celebrates 10 years at Saint Laurent within the Kering group, where other major luxury houses have had to renew their artistic direction. This longevity sums it all up. His departure would mark the end of an era at Saint Laurent.