Mike Coppola/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images Anthony Vaccarello’s decade at Saint Laurent was defined by a rare balancing act: preserving the mystique of one of fashion’s most storied houses while turning it into a modern cultural and commercial powerhouse. When the Belgian-Italian designer took the helm in April 2016, succeeding Hedi Slimane, he inherited a brand with a fiercely defined identity and high expectations. Over the next 10 years, Vaccarello sharpened Saint Laurent’s codes—smart tailoring, sheer dresses, dangerously high hemlines, formidable shoulders, and after-hours glamour—into an aesthetic that was unmistakably his own.
The results extended far beyond the runway. Under Vaccarello, Saint Laurent became a multibillion-euro business, driven by a steady stream of commercial hits, from razor-sharp leather jackets and barely-there lace dresses to the Le 5 à 7 bag and the return of the Mombasa, a Tom Ford-era cult favorite.
Just as important was the world Vaccarello built around the clothes. His Saint Laurent became a magnet for a particular kind of celebrity—cool, self-possessed, and a little dangerous—with Zoë Kravitz, Miley Cyrus, Hailey Bieber, Chloë Sevigny, Michelle Pfeiffer, Charli xcx, and Zoë Saldaña among the stars who became closely associated with the house. His cinematic campaigns drew an equally formidable cast, including Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Keanu Reeves, Lenny Kravitz, and most recently, Connor Storrie, turning the brand’s advertising into an extension of the same darkly glamorous universe he created on the runway.
That fascination with cinema eventually became something more literal. In 2023, Vaccarello launched Saint Laurent Productions, making the house the first luxury fashion brand to operate a full-fledged film-production subsidiary. Since then, it has backed work by directors including Pedro Almodóvar, David Cronenberg, Paolo Sorrentino, Jim Jarmusch, and Jacques Audiard. Audiard’s Emilia Pérez , co-produced by Saint Laurent Productions, received 13 Oscar nominations in 2025 and won two, including Best Supporting Actress for Saldaña, who attended the ceremony in custom Saint Laurent.
In other words, Vaccarello didn’t simply design Saint Laurent collections; he helped turn the house into a cultural ecosystem spanning fashion, celebrity, photography, music, and film. As his tenure officially comes to a close following his final runway show on September 29, there is no shortage of memorable fashion moments to revisit. Ahead, W looks back at the greatest red-carpet hits of the Vaccarello era—from second-skin catsuits and sheer hooded gowns to those thigh-high viral boots.
At the Los Angeles premiere of Smurfs in July 2025.
At the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art.”
At the 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion.
At the 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion.
Out and about in New York in October 2019.
At the Los Angeles premiere of Emilia Pérez in 2024.
At the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art.”
At the screening of Yomeddine during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival in 2018.
At the world premiere of Nosferatu in Berlin in December 2024.
At the 2021 Met Gala Celebrating I n America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021.
At Saint Laurent Rive Droite Art Basel Miami Beach 2021.
At the WSJ. Magazine 2022 Innovator Awards.
Teyana Taylor attends the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.
At the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art.”
At the Los Angeles premiere of The Last of Us in 2025.
Source: ShowBiz
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