The imaginative director of the legendary fashion house leaves after his ‘four-year business’
Photograph: HO/AFP/Getty Similes
Hedi Slimane has announced he is leaving Saint Laurent after four years as ingenious director.
According to WWD, his contract with the legendary fashion council expired yesterday.
Kering, the group that owns the make house, said in a statement that Slimane’s exit has extinguished a “four-year mission, which has led to a complete repositioning of the brand”. With his experiences of popularising the skinny jean, indie rock look at Dior Homme, Slimane ousted this aesthetic to Saint Laurent, giving a contemporary margin to the label.
It is take ited Slimane knew he was leaving the label and used his last two authenticates as farewells. The first goodbye, his lavish autumn/winter 20016 display in Los Angeles, was staged at the Hollywood Palladium and seemed to pay tribue to LA’s epic music scene. It featured a frow that included Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and character a rare appearance by Slimane himself, who walked during the demonstrate dressed like a Romantic poet.
In stark contrast, his Paris mode week show last month featured no music at all, but had a thematic music video aesthetic – a Roxy Music image muse. His final act was masterful: Cara Delevingne’s much acclaimed new adverts for the trade mark, seen as a “return to modelling” after an acting hiatus.
Slimane’s successor is revealed to be Anthony Vaccarello, said to be starting his new role on 1 May.
