London – As all fashion eyes will be on the house of Saint Laurent this Paris
Fashion Week, an apt soundtrack for its AW16 catwalk show could be that
infamous song by the Clash, “Should I stay or should I go.”
Saint Laurent’s creative director Hedi Slimane has been plagued for weeks
of a potential departure, however spokespersons for both the company and
designer have remained silent, confirming neither a departure or that it
doesn’t respond to rumours.
Slimane’s first collection for the House was Spring/Summer 2013, however
his contract with Kering, which owns Saint Laurent, is due for renewal by
the end of March, and rumors persist that the designer and the company have
been unable to agree on new terms.
Anthony Vaccarello, a Belgian designer, has been named as a possible
successor, however, he stated “it’s a rumor,” after his own show on
Tuesday. Nevertheless, reported the New York Times, his show was busier
than usual, with a buzz some attendees attributed to Mr. Vaccarello’s
potential new prospect.
There is no denying Hedi Sliman’s impact on YSL has been hugely
commercially successful, if not somewhat controversial. From the initial
re-naming of the House, the re-branding, and its mystifying public
relations strategy, Mr. Slimane’s Saint Laurent is not solely about clothes
for clothes’ sake. It is just as much the shows he stages, the music he
commissions to score them, the advertisements he shoots himself, the stores
he redesigns. All in all it is a holistic view of a label that he controls
almost entirely. He has not merely designed a collection; he has reshaped
the entire brand.
In terms of numbers, Saint Laurent is one of Kering’s most important
labels, with just under 1 billion euros in revenue in 2015, up nearly 38
percent over 2014. In 2011, the year before Mr. Slimane’s appointment in
March 2012, the company reported 354 million euros. Not bad for a creative
director who once banned the New York Times critic from attending his shows.
As fashion critic Alexander Fury once stated: “It doesn’t matter if we
(journalists) like it (the collection) or not.” The brand will succeed
without critics’ reviews. While the name Yves Saint Laurent certainly has
meaning through its legacy and is part of a wider fashion dialogue, the new
Saint Laurent continues to ruffle feathers as much as it continues to
impress commercially. The interesting question is, how would the new YSL
fare without Mr Slimane?