At the end of Anthony Vaccarello’s latest runway show for Saint Laurent, held as part of Paris Fashion Week earlier this month, the Belgian designer handed a set of keys to his son Luca after his finale bow. The gesture all but confirmed the rumours that had been swirling for some time among fashion insiders, that Vaccarello was leaving the Parisian house after a transformative ten-year tenure.
This morning, after previously having denied the rumour, Saint Laurent has confirmed that Vaccarello has stepped down from his position as creative director of the house’s mens- and womenswear lines. His final collection, presented under three enormous chandeliers in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, would prove a fitting swansong: the show reimagined Yves Saint Laurent’s hallmarks – among them the trench, the safari jacket, brocade tailoring and ruffled blouses – in gleaming shades of gold.
Anthony Vaccarello is leaving Saint Laurent
A golden look from Anthony Vaccarello’s final runway show for Saint Laurent, S/S 2027
A statement from the house said that Vaccarello ‘played a key role in Saint Laurent’s development, helping to strengthen its identity and influence across the worlds of fashion and culture’.
Indeed, over the past decade Vaccarello – who came to the house having run his own eponymous label, and also created collections for Versus Versace, the Italian house’s diffusion line – has honed a precise vision for Saint Laurent, one rooted in a mood of nocturnal glamour and powerful femininity synonymous with house founder Yves Saint Laurent. He has often done so through repetition: his collections for both the house’s mens- and womenswear lines saw him repeat a silhouette – often power-shouldered and cut with absolute precision – until it became a definitive Saint Laurent look.
But Vaccarello also transformed the house into a cultural behemoth. His runway shows were cinematic in scope, from those which ended each season with the Eiffel Tower’s glittering light show (his womenswear collections largely took place in the open air at Paris’ Place du Trocadéro) to menswear collections shown around the world, from a Malibu beach to the Moroccan desert, the latter backdropped by a futuristic glowing ring by Wallpaper* October 2026 guest editor Es Devlin.
His runway shows were cinematic in their presentation (pictured, Saint Laurent S/S 2025)
He would also establish Saint Laurent Productions, marking the first time a fashion house had served as a film production agency. Films produced and financed by Saint Laurent Productions included the Oscar-winning Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard, Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother and David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds.
His time at the house has also been defined by critical and commercial success: he won the 2026 International Designer of the Year at the CFDA Awards, and tripled the house’s revenues to over €3 billion. Recent years have been more difficult at the house – part of a wider luxury slowdown – with revenues falling in 2025 by six per cent.
‘I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Anthony for his contribution to Saint Laurent over the past ten years,’ says Luca de Meo, CEO of Kering, the luxury goods conglomerate that owns the house. ‘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.’
The designer also headed up menswear for the house, including this A/W 2024 collection
Vaccarello himself is yet to issue a personal statement, though he has previously called Saint Laurent ‘the holy grail of fashion houses’. There have been no indications of his next move.
Meanwhile, at Saint Laurent, it has been speculated that Chemena Kamali, creative director of Chloé, will succeed Vaccarello. If so, it will be something of a homecoming: the German fashion designer previously worked as ready-to-wear design director at the house from 2016 to 2023.