The biggest chair in Paris fashion is empty. Anthony Vaccarello leaves Saint Laurent after a decade as creative director, the house and its parent group Kering confirmed in a short statement on Friday, 9 October, ending one of the most commercially and culturally powerful runs of the past ten years. The statement said only that the house "will soon announce its new creative leadership." Over the weekend, WWD reported that a successor has already been chosen — and the name the entire industry keeps repeating is Chemena Kamali, currently creative director of Chloé. For Cover Issue's Tuesday cover story, here is what Vaccarello built, what has actually been confirmed, and what a Kamali-era Saint Laurent could look like.

What Kering and Saint Laurent actually said

The official line is brief and careful. According to Kering's release, Vaccarello "led the House's creative direction since 2016" and "played a key role in Saint Laurent's development, helping to strengthen its identity and influence across the worlds of fashion and culture."

Kering chief executive Luca de Meo thanked the designer "for his contribution to Saint Laurent over the past ten years," adding that "through his creative vision and exacting standards, he has contributed to strengthening the enduring influence of one of France's greatest couture Houses, as we embark on a new chapter in its history." Saint Laurent president and CEO Cédric Charbit said that Vaccarello "took Saint Laurent on a remarkable trajectory, elevating the House to the forefront of desirability and image."

What the statement did not do is name a successor. As of Tuesday, 13 October, no appointment has been formally announced by Saint Laurent, Kering, Chloé or Chloé's owner Richemont. Anything beyond the departure itself is, for now, reporting and expectation — and we will treat it that way.

Why Chemena Kamali is the name everyone is saying

WWD reports that Kamali is "widely expected" to succeed Vaccarello, and Reuters describes industry speculation pointing the same way. The logic is easy to follow. Kamali is no stranger to the house: she served as women's ready-to-wear design director at Saint Laurent under Vaccarello from 2016 until 2023, when she left to take the top job at Chloé, where she has been creative director ever since.

In a follow-up published 12 October, WWD reported what equity analysts were told on a call after the announcement: that the next designer "has already been selected" and is expected to focus on women's daywear, menswear and high-end leather goods, as Saint Laurent pushes into underpenetrated markets such as Asia, and especially China. Barclays analyst Viktoria Petrova wrote that the decision "was driven by the longer-term prospects for Saint Laurent and is unrelated to any recent financial performance of the brand," and characterised the handover as "well-planned."

Not everyone is reassured. Bernstein luxury analyst Luca Solca told WWD that "one could argue that after so many years, Vaccarello could be replaced in the interest of newness," but that, given Kering's record with recent creative appointments, the exit "in my view adds problems to problems."

The gold swan song at the Eiffel Tower

If you want to understand why this news landed so hard, go back to the spring 2027 show just days earlier. WWD described Vaccarello's all-gold collection marching beneath three monumental chandeliers in the shadow of a twinkling Eiffel Tower — a show that "felt like a swan song, official or not." Paris Fashion Week had been thick with speculation that the Belgian designer, 44, was preparing to wind up his tenure. The statement on 9 October simply made it real.

That kind of spectacle was his signature. WWD recalls that Vaccarello became one of Paris Fashion Week's most formidable showmen, staging sets at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, installing a monumental waterfall one season and a giant hydrangea hedge in the shape of the house's Cassandre logo another.

The Vaccarello codes: shoulders, leather and killer heels

On the clothes, Vaccarello reduced Saint Laurent to a few unmistakable ideas and turned them up. WWD lists the vocabulary: strong-shouldered tailoring, meaty leather jackets and faux furs, bold colour, wispy cocktail dresses, hulking costume jewellery and killer heels, usually concentrating each show on a single silhouette or a "juicy slice of brand lore."

He was also unusual for a French megabrand in one specific way: he almost never put handbags on the runway — a wallet at most — even as the Sac de Jour, Icare, Amalia and 5 à 7 kept selling. And he kept an iron grip on the house image; WWD notes that party photos were always shot in black and white only.

The cultural footprint went well beyond clothes. In 2023 he established Saint Laurent Productions to back films by directors including Jim Jarmusch, Pedro Almodóvar and Jacques Audiard, and the company has already collected international awards for "Emilia Pérez" and "Father Mother Sister Brother." He also launched Saint Laurent Editions for books, fanzines and art, with the Saint Laurent Babylone space on the Left Bank. His inner circle, per WWD, ran from Kate Moss, Zoë Kravitz and Rosé to Catherine Deneuve and Betty Catroux.

Where the business stands

The numbers explain why Kering is talking about a "new chapter" rather than a rescue. WWD reports that Saint Laurent sat in the Lyst Index top five for the last ten quarters, and that Kering said the brand returned to growth in the first half of 2026. At comparable exchange rates, 2025 revenue slipped 6 percent to 2.64 billion euros — a far gentler decline than Gucci's 19 percent drop over the same period.

Reuters frames the exit as part of a wider reshuffle under de Meo: Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta all changed creative directors last year. WWD adds that Kering plans to build on Vaccarello's foundation, sees further opportunities in jewellery, and wants Saint Laurent to double sales to top clients and double its Asia business by 2030.

The awards calendar just got awkward

There is a strange coda still to come. WWD notes that Vaccarello is set to receive the International Designer of the Year trophy at the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York on 2 November, and that he is among six nominees for Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Council's Fashion Awards in London on 30 November. A house documentary about his approach, produced by Terminal 9 Studios, was also on the cusp of release. Expect those nights to double as farewell tributes.

What to watch next

First, the announcement itself. Kering has promised it "soon," and WWD's reporting suggests the decision is made, so the formal naming could come at any moment. Second, Chloé: if Kamali does move, the Richemont-owned house would need its own successor, setting off another round of Paris musical chairs. Third, the product signal. If the brief really is daywear, menswear and high-end leather goods, expect a softer, more wearable Saint Laurent woman — and, for the first time in a decade, bags that might actually walk the runway.

For now, the only certainty is the one in Kering's statement: Anthony Vaccarello has left Saint Laurent, and the next chapter of Paris's most mythologised house is about to be written. We will update this story the moment the new creative director is confirmed.