Hedi Slimane Is Leaving Saint Laurent, Again
April Fool’s Day came with many taunting headlines and surprises, most of which were false, fabricated as fleeting jokes. However, that Friday morning, Kering, the parent company of Saint Laurent, not-so-jokingly put out a statement confirming the rumor that has buzzed through fashion circles for the past months: Hedi Slimane is leaving Saint Laurent after his four-year tenure.
As creative and image director, French-born Slimane brought with him to Saint Laurent a plan to revolutionize the house, taking the reins from Stefano Pilati. First, in a rebranding maneuver, he dropped the name "Yves" and derived "Saint Laurent" from the original 1966 “Saint Laurent Rive Gauche" line. In an interview with Yahoo! Style, Slimane said that the return helped "to recreate a legitimate and lost balance between the fashion and leather accessories." He continued, "Those were the fundamentals I needed to restore, together with the progressive allure and message of the Rive Gauche, which for me was always the true spirit of Yves and Pierre [Bergé].”
Slimane also revived the house's haute couture line, which was last shown in 2002, and helped to purchase more studio space at 24 Rue de l’Université, which he converted into a new atelier.
Saint Laurent Haute Couture ad campaign shot by Hedi Slimane. Image Credit: Saint Laurent.
Since his return to company in March 2012 — he first started as an assistant in fashion marketing at YSL in 1997, then rose to the role of head designer of Rive Gauche Homme before quitting in early 2000 — Slimane transformed the house with a 360-degree vision. For Slimane, who fashion critic Tim Blanks called “an obsessive” and “one of the most complete conceptualists that we’ve got,” it was craftsmanship and attention to detail that distinguished him in the industry.
For the runway, Slimane commissioned musicians to produce exclusive music for ready-to-wear shows, and live performance became an inextricable part of the Saint Laurent image. Models casted off the streets strut to the rhythm of rock n' roll beats that blared through the grandiose venues of his choice.
Yet Slimane's influence transcended the runway and made its way onto the retail floor, where he redesigned store layout and adopted for its product packaging a textured ribbon that resembles the lapels on the famous "le smoking" tuxedo.
“Every single detail seems important. It is about consistency, an aesthetic equation that needs constantly to evolve. It is quite overwhelming to design all those elements, but if the house wants to keep a distinct voice there is no other choice,” Slimane said. Indeed, his efforts have not gone in vain: sales at Saint Laurent saw a new high in 2015, when revenues were reported at just under $1.05 billion, compared to $385 million in 2011.
Last month at Paris Fashion Week, Slimane delivered Saint Laurent's Autumn/Winter 2016 collection, which unbeknownst to attendees, was his final for the house. Staged at the newly renovated haute couture salon on Rue de l’Université, the presentation was replete with silence instead of the usual cacophonous music, for only the voice of Bénédicte de Ginestous was heard. In a nod to the private unveilings that Yves Saint Laurent used to host, Slimane brought back Ginestous, the woman who had announced the looks of all original haute couture shows from 1977 to 2002. “Numéro un, number one...” the audience heard.
The clothes – large eighties-style shoulders, glittery dresses and fur coats in classic YSL heart shapes – were exquisitely crafted and left the audience questioning if the collection was actually haute couture, rather than a continuation of the ready-to-wear collection.
Hedi Slimane's last collection at Saint Laurent, "La Collection de Paris." Image Credit: Saint Laurent.
After the announcement that Anthony Vaccarello is leaving his post at Versus Versace, Kering and Saint Laurent put out a statement confirming that Vaccarello will indeed be the next creative director for Saint Laurent.
And Slimane? Many people are speculating that he will fill the vacancy at Dior, while others speculate that he is Lagerfeld’s pick to succeed the Kaiser at Chanel.
