Anthony Vaccarello Is Out at Saint Laurent After a Decade, With Chemena Kamali the Name on Everyone's List
The Paris house confirmed Vaccarello's exit Friday after months of speculation, closing a ten-year run built on spectacle and sharp tailoring — with Chloé's Chemena Kamali, a former Saint Laurent design director, now the favorite to take over.
Anthony Vaccarello walking out for his runway bow at a Saint Laurent show, backlit by stage lights · Photo: Giovanni Giannoni/WWD
Saint Laurent confirmed Friday that Anthony Vaccarello is stepping down as creative director after ten years, ending months of speculation that only grew louder during the most recent Paris Fashion Week. The house said in a brief statement that new creative leadership would be named soon, and credited Vaccarello with sharpening the brand's identity and widening its reach into film, art, and culture well beyond clothing.
The timing tracks with what people in the audience were already saying out loud. Vaccarello's all-gold spring 2027 show last week, staged beneath three towering chandeliers with the Eiffel Tower glowing behind it, read to many as a closing statement whether or not that was the intention going in.
Chemena Kamali, currently creative director at Chloé, is the name circulating hardest as his successor. She isn't new to the house: Kamali ran Saint Laurent's womenswear design studio under Vaccarello from 2016 until she left to take the top job at Chloé in 2023.
Kering's leadership, including chief executive Luca de Meo and Saint Laurent president and CEO Cédric Charbit, both offered thanks to Vaccarello for his decade shaping the house. On a call with analysts, Kering framed the move as being about the brand's longer-term direction rather than any recent softness in sales, and signaled that whoever takes over will likely push harder into categories where Saint Laurent is thinner today — women's daywear, menswear, and leather goods — along with growth across Asia. The house had already quietly hired handbag designer Johnny Coca, previously of Louis Vuitton, Celine, and Mulberry, earlier this year, a sign that buildout was underway regardless of who ends up with the title.
The exit lands at an odd moment for the brand's own narrative. This year brought a run of magazine coverage tied to Vaccarello's ten-year anniversary, plus a documentary on his tenure from Terminal 9 Studios that was reportedly close to release. Saint Laurent has also held a spot in the Lyst Index's ranking of fashion's hottest brands for ten straight quarters.
Vaccarello isn't leaving without recognition. He's set to collect the International Designer of the Year award at the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on Nov. 2, and he's among the nominees for Designer of the Year at London's Fashion Awards on Nov. 30.
Over his run, Vaccarello built Saint Laurent's reputation on elaborate Paris sets staged in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, strong-shouldered tailoring, leather and faux fur, and a visual language that almost never put handbags on the runway even as styles like the Sac de Jour and Icare sold steadily. He pushed the house past clothing entirely too, launching Saint Laurent Productions to back films from directors including Jim Jarmusch and Pedro Almodóvar, and Saint Laurent Editions, a publishing and art venture with its own gallery space on the Left Bank.
He arrived at Saint Laurent after stints at Fendi and his own namesake label, and a short run designing Versus for Donatella Versace. His decade there slots him into a line of successors to founder Yves Saint Laurent that includes Tom Ford, Stefano Pilati, Alber Elbaz, and Hedi Slimane. Kering has said it sees room to grow the house's daywear, menswear, and jewelry business, with a stated goal of doubling sales to its top clients and doubling its footprint in Asia by 2030.
