The rumours were true, Hedi Slimane is leaving Yves Saint Laurent. As a result this week, Pinault’s company Kering have (finally) confirmed Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello as the brand’s new creative director. “I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the history of this extraordinary house,” Vaccarello said in a statement, calling founder Yves Saint Laurent “a legendary figure for his creativity, style and audacity.”

Vaccarello will start immediately at Saint Laurent. “While I’m sad to see him leave the Versace family, I wish Anthony Vaccarello tremendous success with his next chapter. In the past several years, I have worked with three great young talents on Versus Versace: Christopher Kane, JW Anderson and Anthony Vaccarello. In each instance, their time on Versus Versace led to them making a huge advancement in their design career. I appreciated the chance to work with each of these three designers, and I enjoyed seeing what they brought to a brand I truly love. I’m proud that Versus can be such a remarkable global platform for emerging design talent. As for the future, I’m most excited about taking on a bigger role with Versus, and doing what I always do – surprising everybody!” – said Donatella Versace.

Good luck to him (dealing with/for Pierre Bergé must not be easy…)!