A Primer on Anthony Vaccarello, Saint Laurent’s New Designer
Watch out for the quiet ones, the old adage says, and it suits Anthony Vaccarello, a reserved 33-year-old Belgian of Italian origins who will take over from Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent. Since 2008 Vaccarello has been based in Paris where, with a team of four, he meticulously crafts barely there dresses, tailored, writes Vogue.com’s Nicole Phelps, in a signature “take-no-prisoners way.”
Vaccarello has known success from the start of his career. The same year that he graduated with distinction from fashion school, he won the Hyères prize. A job offer from Fendi, the ANDAM award, and the creative directorship of Versus followed soon after. And while you might be familiar with Vaccarello’s work—who could forget Anja Rubik and Gisele Bündchen in his microscopic stunners at the 2012 and 2013 Met Galas, respectively—there’s a chance you might not be as familiar with the man who created them. Here, a primer charting the rise of Anthony Vaccarello, Saint Laurent’s new main man.
Photo: Courtesy of Anthony Vaccarello / @anthonyvaccarello1/22September 1982
Born in Brussels, Anthony Vaccarello was the only child of Italian parents. His father worked as a waiter, his mother in an office. The designer was just “5 years old, with his grandparents in Sicily,” reported Tim Blanks, “when he first saw a Versace show on TV.”
Photos: Conde Nast Archive; Ron Galella, Ltd. / WireImage2/221990s
Surrounded by the Helmut Newton photos his mother collected and his own Versace tear sheets, Vaccarello said he developed a “fascination . . . with women s bodies.” TV was another important influence. “I’m kind of nostalgic about that ’90s period of sex, when sex didn t used to be sex; when sex was different from the mood of the time. In the ’90s, when Madonna did the Sex book—which I’m obsessed with—or Tom Ford did a sexy collection, it was super strong.”
Photo: Olivier Pirard / REX / Shutterstock3/222000s
Vaccarello completed one year of law school, before pursuing his creative dreams. In 2000 he enrolled at La Cambre (founded in 1927 by architect Henry van de Velde), where he studied sculpture. “By then I had discovered Comme des Garçons, I discovered Alaïa, and I realized that what really interested me was the construction of the clothes. The architecture of designing,” Vaccarello told Antidote.
Photo: © Thomas Mailaender / Courtesy of Hyères4/22June 2006
Vaccarello graduated with honors, and won first place at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography with a collection inspired by La Cicciolina, artist’s muse, porn star, and politician. “It s all about her hair growing into the clothes,” Vaccarello said at the time, “so that s the main inspiration of that collection, but it’s not about her sexual appeal or something like that.” Vaccarello’s designs caught the eye of Karl Lagerfeld, and in September of that year, the Belgian started designing for Fendi’s fur line.
Photo: Courtesy of Diane Pernet5/22January 2009
Having moved back to Paris in 2008 “for love,” (Vaccarello’s boyfriend Arnaud Michaux was then working for Lanvin), the designer made his debut after couture week, showing five looks in the window of the boutique Maria Luisa.
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