Anthony Vaccarello Leaves Saint Laurent After a Decade

Anthony Vaccarello is leaving Saint Laurent after ten years as creative director, the house’s owner Kering confirmed on October 9. The announcement closes a long, unusually coherent chapter for one of Paris fashion’s most visible labels. Kering says a successor will be announced later; it has not named one yet.

Vaccarello joined Saint Laurent in 2016. The official Kering statement credits him with strengthening the house’s identity and cultural influence. Reuters’ industry report adds commercial context: Saint Laurent’s revenue contracted in 2024 and 2025 before stabilizing this year.

A decade shaped by a clear point of view

Fashion leadership changes often arrive after a visible run of mixed creative directions. Vaccarello’s tenure looked different. His collections repeatedly returned to a narrow set of ideas: sharp tailoring, elongated lines, a controlled palette, and the friction between restraint and sensuality. Repetition gave the work a recognizable signature.

That consistency mattered because the house carries a large historical shadow. Yves Saint Laurent’s legacy includes the tuxedo suit, a modern vocabulary of eveningwear, and the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear project. A new designer inherits those references but cannot merely reproduce them. The work has to make the archive useful to people dressing now.

Vaccarello often handled that challenge by editing rather than quoting. His Saint Laurent woman could wear a long black coat, a precise shoulder, or a transparent blouse without the styling becoming a history lesson. The clothes carried the codes forward through proportion, texture, and attitude. That method helped the brand identity remain legible across campaigns, runway collection images, accessories, and stores.

Why the departure matters beyond the runway

A creative director shapes more than a show. The role affects how a fashion house chooses references, presents collections, and connects womenswear with menswear. Those decisions influence wholesale buyers, customers, image makers, and the wider fashion industry.

Saint Laurent’s runway has also worked as a public stage. Its Paris Fashion Week presentations near the Eiffel Tower became a familiar visual signature. The spectacle supported the clothing, but it also made the house easy to recognize in a crowded media cycle. A successor will inherit that platform and decide how much of its language should continue.

There is a commercial question, too. Reuters reported that Saint Laurent generated more than €3 billion in annual revenue in 2023 before later declines. Those figures illustrate the scale of the business, not a simple verdict on the designer. Luxury sales respond to pricing, tourism, product categories, distribution, and broader demand, as well as to creative choices.

That distinction is important. Fashion leadership can shape desire, but a creative director does not control every market condition. Kering’s next appointment will have to make the brand compelling while working inside those realities.

The final collection now reads as a closing statement

Vaccarello presented Saint Laurent’s Spring 2027 collection in Paris in late September. The show’s gold-toned setting and evening silhouettes took on a new meaning once the departure became public. A runway look that first appeared to open another season now sits at the end of a ten-year sequence.

That does not mean the collection was designed as a farewell announcement. The house confirmed the exit afterward. Readers should avoid treating every styling choice as a coded resignation. What has changed is the frame around the work: it now serves as the final public collection of this chapter.

For the designer, the next step remains unannounced in Kering’s statement. For Saint Laurent, the immediate task is continuity. The brand still has to develop the next season, sell its existing collections, and communicate its direction to customers while the search unfolds.

What customers and the industry should watch next

The most useful signal will be the successor announcement and the timing of that person’s first collection. A rapid appointment could preserve the calendar. A longer transition might give Kering room to rethink the role or the house’s priorities. Neither approach guarantees a better result; the work will matter more than the timetable.

Watch how the next team handles the balance among the archive, everyday ready-to-wear, and runway image. Saint Laurent has built a strong visual world, but a fashion house also needs clothes that work outside a show. Menswear, womenswear, leather goods, and retail experience each help define what customers understand the label to be.

The question is not whether a new creative director should imitate Vaccarello. A successor needs space to make a distinct argument. The real test is whether that argument feels connected to Saint Laurent without becoming a museum version of it.

A transition with a defined starting point

For now, the confirmed facts are straightforward: Vaccarello is leaving after a decade, Kering has thanked him for his contribution, and the successor remains unnamed. Those details create a clear moment of change for French fashion and for a major luxury business.

The timing also makes this a useful pause for readers who follow designer transition news. One era has an end date; the next has not yet taken shape. Saint Laurent’s next chapter will be judged through the clothes, the image, and the choices customers can actually see—not simply through the name attached to the studio.

RunwayLive’s Luxury Fashion coverage tracks how houses balance legacy with change. The coming appointment will offer the first concrete clue about Kering’s plans. Until then, Vaccarello’s decade remains a completed body of work, not a template that the next designer must follow.

For more context, read RunwayLive’s recent Saint Laurent runway coverage, which captures the collection now serving as the final chapter of Vaccarello’s tenure.