Hedi Slimane To Leave Saint Laurent
The creative director officially exits the fashion house after four years
After months of speculation, Hedi Slimane is officially making his exit from Saint Laurent. Kering, the fashion house’s parent company, confirmed the news through a press release this weekend:
“What Yves Saint Laurent has achieved over the past four years represents a unique chapter in the history of the house. I am very grateful to Hedi Slimane, and the whole Yves Saint Laurent team, for having set the path that the house has successfully embraced, and which will grant longevity to this legendary brand,” François-Henri Pinault, CEO of Kering, said in the statement.
Slimane has helmed the reins as Saint Laurent’s creative director for four years, bringing the house into a new chapter of edgy, glam rock-n-roll-inspired fashions that shook up its runways. The creative director’s major changes to the fashion house also extended as far as its iconic name, when he shocked everyone by dropping the ‘Yves’ from ‘Yves Saint Laurent.’
Slimane has been staging a grand finale over the last few months that included a runway show at Los Angeles’s Palladium theatre, a special couture collection shown during Paris Fashion Week and most recently, campaigns starring Jane Birkin and Cara Delevingne.
While a replacement for Slimane has yet to officially be named, the statement revealed, “a new creative organisation for the house will be communicated in due course,” with rumours of Anthony Vaccarello being the frontrunner for the position. Whoever is appointed as Saint Laurent’s next successor, one thing’s certain: fashion’s ongoing game of designer musical chairs is hardly over yet.
Via Harper’s Bazaar US