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Anthony Vaccarello’s highly-Instagrammed patent YSL logo molded heel stiletto for the label’s Spring Summer 2017 collection, the designer’s debut for the houseCredit: Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

In a string of 22 tweets, disgruntled former Yves Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane has made his displeasure known at the suggestion that incumbent head designer Anthony Vaccarello returned the ‘Y’ to ‘YSL’ with his 80s-inflected debut collection for the storied Parisian label earlier this week.

Yesterday, the Agence France-Presse reported that Slimane has filed another lawsuit against Kering Group after the designer had previously won a court judgement concerning the financial terms of his departure earlier this year. Slimane is now allegedely seeking another nearly €10 million that he believes is owed to him for services provided during the final year of his contract with the Kering-owned brand.

“The talented designer is demanding that Kering abide by a partnership agreement giving Slimane certain rights, notably the right of access to information, as a minority shareholder in Saint Laurent,” reports the AFP.

However filing a legal motion doesn’t appear to have been enough for Slimane, who earlier this morning was moved to issue a series of missives dismissing the suggestion that Vaccarello has reinstated the iconic YSL logo, which was designed by Ukrainian-French painter, commercial poster artist, and typeface designer, Adolphe Mouron Cassandre in December 1961, whilst the label was helmed by its eponymous founder. 

“FACT CHECKING/THERE HAVE BEEN INACCURATE STATEMENTS ON RECENT ARTICLES REGARDING HEDIA AND THE USE OF THE YSL HISTORICAL LOGO” writes Slimane (or, more likely, a representative for the designer) in the first of his many tweets on the matter. It’s likely that he’s referring in particular to his ostensible nemesis, the revered critic Cathy Horyn, whom Slimane had banned from his shows but who has been re-invited to attend the label’s presentation under Vaccarello. Her dispatch from the Paris Fashion Week presentation earlier this week was titled, The Y Is Back in YSL, But Not Much Else Is Yet. Slimane famously used his Twitter account to call Horyn a “schoolyard bully” in 2012 but it has long been dormant in the years since.

The verified account then goes on to detail at painstaking lengths each instance of the logo’s usage during Slimane’s divisive tenure at the house – one that was undeniably fruitful for the Kering Group but one that divided critics. Slimane’s time at the house famously included his Reform Project, part of which involved restoring the name Saint Laurent to the brand (a throwback to the brand’s original name and an attempt to modernise it for a new generation of consumers). The full title, Yves Saint Laurent, was reserved for a couture collection, the first offering for which was also the designer’s swan song offering at the house.

This is Slimane’s first public commentary on the matter of his departure since leaving Saint Laurent. You can read all his tweets in order of their appearance below.


Tile and cover image: Supplied

topics: NEWS, Fashion news, Hedi Slimane, Yves Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello

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