Anthony Vaccarello: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Anthony Vaccarello arrived at Saint Laurent in 2016 carrying a Belgian art-school rigour (La Cambre, Hyères 2006) and a taste for the sharp, sexualised silhouette he'd honed at Versus Versace. This mix traces the house he inherited, the 1980s Paris body-architects behind his cut, the Belgian scene that trained him, and the cinema arm he built with Saint Laurent Productions.

The Kynda mix for Anthony Vaccarello

• Key Influence · Le Smoking by Yves Saint Laurent (1966). Vaccarello's entire tenure at the house is an argument about one garment: the tuxedo Saint Laurent cut for women in 1966. From his 2016 debut onward he has rebuilt the smoking season after season — padded shoulder, satin lapel, nothing beneath — and anchored the brand's identity in the founder's codes of androgyny and evening black rather than the softer bohemia of YSL's 1970s period.Dwelling on the archive is his stated method.
• Influencia Obscura · Mugler Autumn/Winter 1995–96 'Les Insectes' by Thierry Mugler (1995). The 1980s Paris school of body-architecture is the hidden engine of Vaccarello's cut. Mugler's exaggerated shoulder, cinched waist and vertiginous hip — the woman as engineered form — reappears in Vaccarello's sculpted mini-dresses and his broad-shouldered Saint Laurent tailoring. His work belongs less to Belgian deconstruction than to this French tradition of the hyper-defined, theatrical silhouette.
• Local Roots · Olivier Theyskens Autumn/Winter 1998 debut by Olivier Theyskens (1998). Theyskens is the other Brussels designer formed at La Cambre, the school Vaccarello attended before winning the Hyères festival grand prize in 2006. Theyskens' gothic romanticism and his own later stewardship of a French heritage house (Rochas, then Nina Ricci) map the exact route Vaccarello would take: Belgian training, then Paris, then the custody of someone else's archive.
• Beyond the Medium · Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard (2024). Vaccarello founded Saint Laurent Productions in 2023 and co-produced Audiard's Cannes-awarded musical, with the house also involved in costume. It is the clearest evidence that his practice extends beyond clothes into film financing — an unusual move for a creative director, and one that places a luxury house inside auteur cinema rather than merely dressing its stars on the red carpet.
• Peer · Balenciaga Autumn/Winter 2022 'The Lost Tape' by Demna (2022). Demna took Balenciaga in 2015, a year before Vaccarello took Saint Laurent; both are designers from outside France entrusted with Kering's two most significant Paris houses, and the two brands' divergent strategies — Demna's irony and spectacle versus Vaccarello's archival severity — have defined the group's decade. They show in the same Paris week to the same audience.
• From the Canon · Saint Laurent Spring/Summer 2017 by Anthony Vaccarello (2016). His debut for the house, shown outdoors in Paris: the full name restored, the smoking reinstated, one-shouldered black dresses and razor hips. It announced the thesis that has governed every collection since — Saint Laurent as a house of evening, of black, and of the founder's own vocabulary rather than the street-rock register he inherited from his predecessor.
• Key Collaborator · Go-Sees by Juergen Teller (1999). Teller shot Saint Laurent campaigns during Vaccarello's tenure, bringing his raw flash-lit directness to a house that had been imaged in high-gloss monochrome. Go-Sees — a year of young models photographed at Teller's own front door — is the purest statement of his anti-glamour method, and shows what Vaccarello was reaching for when he invited that eye into the brand's advertising.
• Legacy · Ludovic de Saint Sernin Spring/Summer 2021 by Ludovic de Saint Sernin (2020). Working in Paris in the years after Vaccarello's arrival at Saint Laurent, de Saint Sernin built a label on exactly the terrain Vaccarello reopened: the exposed body, eyelet lacing, cut-outs, sex as the garment's subject rather than its subtext. His rise is unthinkable without the current Saint Laurent having made that language central to Paris fashion week again.

What influenced Anthony Vaccarello

• Yves Saint Laurent by Yves Saint Laurent (1936). Vaccarello describes developing his Saint Laurent debut from a dress by the house’s founder. “So with that dress, we deconstructed it, we changed the fabric—it was in crepe de chine; we did it in leather, for example—we cut it up: we had a lot of fun with that one dress.” (Vogue)
• Karl Lagerfeld. Vaccarello worked under Lagerfeld in fur design for two years. “Karl Lagerfeld took notice and hired him to work at Fendi soon after.” (W Magazine)
• Azzedine Alaïa. Alaïa is named as an inspiration for Vaccarello’s move into fashion. “He switched to the fashion course after finding inspiration in the architectural designs of Rei Kawakubo and Azzedine Alaïa and graduated with honors in 2006.” (Your Next Shoes)
• Rei Kawakubo (1942). Kawakubo is named as an inspiration for Vaccarello’s move into fashion. “He switched to the fashion course after finding inspiration in the architectural designs of Rei Kawakubo and Azzedine Alaïa and graduated with honors in 2006.” (Your Next Shoes)
• Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard (2024). Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard) — culture for Anthony Vaccarello (themoviedb.org)
• Saint Laurent Paris Autumn/Winter 2013 by Hedi Slimane (2013). Saint Laurent Paris Autumn/Winter 2013 (Hedi Slimane) — titan for Anthony Vaccarello “In April 2016, Anthony Vaccarello succeeded Slimane as creative director for Yves Saint Laurent.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Strange Way of Life by Pedro Almodóvar (2023). Strange Way of Life (Pedro Almodóvar) — culture for Anthony Vaccarello (themoviedb.org)
• Le Smoking by Yves Saint Laurent (1966). Le Smoking (Yves Saint Laurent) — titan for Anthony Vaccarello “He is the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent and he has designed an eponymous line too.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Big Nudes by Helmut Newton (1981). Big Nudes (Helmut Newton) — culture for Anthony Vaccarello
• Mugler Autumn/Winter 1995–96 'Les Insectes' by Thierry Mugler (1995). Mugler Autumn/Winter 1995–96 'Les Insectes' (Thierry Mugler) — ghost for Anthony Vaccarello
• Claude Montana Autumn/Winter 1984 by Claude Montana (1984). Claude Montana Autumn/Winter 1984 (Claude Montana) — ghost for Anthony Vaccarello
• Yves Saint Laurent Autumn/Winter 1999 womenswear by Tom Ford (1999). Yves Saint Laurent Autumn/Winter 1999 womenswear (Tom Ford) — titan for Anthony Vaccarello

Peers and kindred spirits

• Anja Rubik. Rubik agreed to walk in Vaccarello’s A/W 2012 show. “I really wanted to work with Anja. I don’t think you can do this on your own. You need to have your people around you, those that have helped you.” (Vogue)
• Fendi. Vaccarello worked in fur design at Fendi. “So right away, in September, I was in Rome, working for Fendi. I love Rome, but I was a little bored. Karl did everything, and I did not really see how there was any room for advancement.” (W Magazine)
• Arnaud Michaux. Michaux is stated to work with Vaccarello in the YSL atelier. “Arnaud was sewing all my complicated dresses” (Vogue)
• Lou Doillon. Doillon modeled for a Vaccarello lookbook. “The next day, the two-along with photographer Julia Champeau-shot Vaccarello's look book for Fall 2010 in a parking garage near Doillon's Bastille apartment.” (Interview Magazine)
• Versus Versace. Vaccarello created a capsule collection for Versus Versace. “In 2015, Vaccarello was named the creative director of Versus Versace. He received the call from Saint Laurent after only a year on the job.” (W Magazine)
• Versace. Vaccarello worked for Versace as a consultant and creative director. “Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello has been tapped by Versace ’s sister line, Versus Versace, to create a collection for the brand.” (FashionNetwork)
• Karlie Kloss. LaCava reports that Kloss signed on for Vaccarello’s Fall 2012 show. “When it came to casting his Fall 2012 show in February, his friend Karlie Kloss agreed to sign on-soon, calls came from other models asking to join.” (Interview Magazine)
• Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Gush credits the photographers on Vaccarello’s first Saint Laurent campaign. “Shot in black and white by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the campaign suggests Vaccarello might take on the rock and roll style that was so successful for Hedi Slimane at the French house.” (i-D)
• Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 1989 by Martin Margiela (1989). Maison Martin Margiela Spring/Summer 1989 (Martin Margiela) — geography for Anthony Vaccarello
• Versace Autumn/Winter 1997 by Donatella Versace (1997). Versace Autumn/Winter 1997 (Donatella Versace) — collaborator for Anthony Vaccarello
• Bottega Veneta Autumn/Winter 2023 by Matthieu Blazy (2023). Bottega Veneta Autumn/Winter 2023 (Matthieu Blazy) — peer for Anthony Vaccarello
• Olivier Theyskens Autumn/Winter 1998 debut by Olivier Theyskens (1998). Olivier Theyskens Autumn/Winter 1998 debut (Olivier Theyskens) — geography for Anthony Vaccarello
• Alaïa Summer/Fall 2022 by Pieter Mulier (2022). Alaïa Summer/Fall 2022 (Pieter Mulier) — peer for Anthony Vaccarello
• David Sims: Photographs by David Sims (2010). David Sims: Photographs (David Sims) — collaborator for Anthony Vaccarello
• Go-Sees by Juergen Teller (1999). Go-Sees (Juergen Teller) — collaborator for Anthony Vaccarello
• Raf Simons Autumn/Winter 1998 'Black Palms' by Raf Simons (1998). Raf Simons Autumn/Winter 1998 'Black Palms' (Raf Simons) — geography for Anthony Vaccarello
• Balenciaga Autumn/Winter 2022 'The Lost Tape' by Demna (2022). Balenciaga Autumn/Winter 2022 'The Lost Tape' (Demna) — peer for Anthony Vaccarello

Who Anthony Vaccarello influenced

• Nensi Dojaka Spring/Summer 2022 by Nensi Dojaka (2021). Nensi Dojaka Spring/Summer 2022 (Nensi Dojaka) — legacy for Anthony Vaccarello
• Ludovic de Saint Sernin Spring/Summer 2021 by Ludovic de Saint Sernin (2020). Ludovic de Saint Sernin Spring/Summer 2021 (Ludovic de Saint Sernin) — legacy for Anthony Vaccarello