Creative Fashioners: Keep on Dancing
New round of changes in the creative directions of luxury brands. This time has been Saint Laurent, who has hired Anthony Vacarello, seizing him from Versace.
Vacarello comes to replace Hedi Slimane, who left the French firm last week. The exit of Slimane has been a very hard blow for Saint Laurent, as he had revolutionized the performance of the Kering´s unit, as controversial as good decisions, including reducing the company name (which since its inception had taken the name of the founder, Yves Saint Laurent). Currently Saint Laurent was the fastest growing among Kering´s units, with almost 40% increase in sales in 2015, to around €1 billion.
Until the day of his appointment, Vacarello was responsible for the product line Versus of Versace for a year. Saint Laurent has already announced that the first collection of new creative director will be in October, during the Fashion Week in Paris
Unfortunately for Saint Laurent, the hiring distilled uncertainty. It is more than clear that his move was precipitated (on Friday Slimane announced his departure and on Monday morning Vacarello did the same in Versace). And it should cover a huge hole of a creative director who has set the bar very high. Now the pressure until checking the acceptance of his first collection in October will be very high.
Saint Laurent announcement comes amid a second round of changes that are severely affecting the sector. In recent days, some companies have announced changes in their positions of maximum creative responsibility, including Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna and Brioni, among others.
