Hedi Slimane named Creative Director at Yves Saint Laurent

French designer Hedi Slimane will replace Stefano Pilati at the helm of YSL

After much will he, won’t he, speculation, it’s been confirmed that Hedi Slimane will replace Stefano Pilati as the Creative Director of Yves Saint Laurent.

The French designer and photographer, who led the menswear division of the label from 1997 to 2000 before moving on to design at Dior Homme, will return to YSL with ‘total creative responsibility for the brand image and all its collections’.

Fancois-Henri Pinault, CEO of the PPR group that owns Yves Saint Laurent, told WWD: ‘As one of the most important French fashion houses, Yves Saint Laurent today possesses formidable potential, which I am confident will be successfully harnessed and revealed through the vision of Hedi Slimane.’

Paul Deneve, CEO of Yves Saint Laurent, added: ‘Hedi Slimane’s exceptional talent and understanding of the spirit of Yves Saint Laurent heralds a promising new chapter in the story of the maison.'

Slimane’s new role will see him create his first womenswear range with the pre-collections in June. However, he will also continue to pursue his photography – the main focus of his career since leaving Dior – and probably shoot all of the YSL campaign imagery himself. His past photography work included collaborating with many British rock musicians, including Pete Doherty.

His passion for both men’s fashion and music has also seen him create David Bowie’s tour wardrobe, as well as trademark the skinny jeans rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic in the mid-2000s so loved by the likes of Babyshambles singer Doherty.

The Parisian replaces Italian designer Stefano Pilati at the helm of YSL, after he left the label earlier this week following the showing of the autumn/winter 2012 collection.

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