Kering Group confirms Hedi Slimane Exit from YSL. The news was confirmed today in a brief joint statement issued by Yves Saint Laurent and Kering, the luxury group which owns the storied French brand.

“What Yves Saint Laurent has achieved over the past four years represents a unique chapter in the history of the house,” said Francois-Henri Pinault, chairman and chief executive officer of Kering,said in a joint statement with Saint Laurent :  “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.”

Slimane earned his reputation as a men’s wear maverick, initially making a name for himself as the designer of Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Homme in the late Nineties, when Elbaz was in charge of women’s ready-to-wear, before going on to popularize skinny black suits and rock-tinged androgyny at Dior Homme.

An art history graduate from the Ecole du Louvre, Slimane emerged from fashion’s shadows during his first stint at YSL. Hired as an assistant in fashion marketing at YSL in 1997 and then  promoted to designer, Slimane successfully revved up the label’s Rive Gauche Homme collection with sleek, androgynous tailoring.

Slimane resigned from YSL in 2000 to pursue exclusive negotiations with ist „parents“ , later knows as a Gucci Group .He ended up signing on with rival Dior, embarking on an ambitious project that electrified men’s wear with his glitzy fashion shows and minimalist boutiques.

He exited that brand in 2007 and pursued a photography and art career before returning to the fashion fold in 2012 at the creative helm of YSL, which he rechristened Saint Laurent to return to the initial impulses in the Sixties that drove the late, legendary couturier to introduce ready-to-wear.Slimane was granted total creative responsibility for the brand image and all its collections.

Today’s announcement is sure to speed the naming of Slimane’s successor, widely expected to be Anthony Vaccarello , with a start date as soon as May 1 – in time for the spring 2017 shows in Paris this fall.   ( Source : WWD.com)

A Belgian designer partial to the racy, fast-paced side of fashion, Vaccarello had recently been recruited by Donatella Versace for her reboot of the Versus brand.Vaccarello, 33, would become only the fourth ready-to-wear designer at YSL.

Sources :Business of Fashion  http://www.businessoffashion.com and   WWD.com

From Saint Laurent Fall/Winter 2016-2017 collection designed by Hedi Slimane