Will YSL go back and do a full re-boot?

London - Last week Yves Saint Laurent deleted its Instagram history, a four year narrative of images uploaded under the Draconian supervision of its previous Creative Director, Hedi Slimane. The slate was cleared to make way for his successor Anthony Vaccarello, but in doing so there was a message: that a luxury house remains firmly rooted in its existence and its business cannot be solely defined by the Creative Director in charge. We have now entered a new era in fashion where changing designers is part of the 'normal' life cycle in modern luxury.

For a designer to spend four years at a house, effectively 8 seasons, used to be but a mere blip in time compared to how long founding creatives stayed and developed their brands. I'm thinking here of Giorgio Armani (41 years and still going strong), Valentino (48 years), or even H&M's Creative Advisor Margareta van den Bosch, who has been with the Swedish brand nearly 30 years.

Luxury goods companies require consumer investment

Consumers identify brands by their creatives because to develop a signature takes time. Luxury goods companies require the consumer to invest in their products, which they are buying because they believe it will give them value over time. The message that companies can chop and change designers is arguably one of power and money, but also one of the changing landscape of the industry.

Slimane's rigorous changes to YSL's visual landscape, its collections and its stores, took a good year for consumers to understand. When an internationally loved and respected brand gets a name and logo makeover practically overnight, it takes time to grasp the new vision and want to get on board. Now the world seemingly adores Mr Slimane's wares and his looks dominate the high street from London to Tokyo, a success only matched by Gucci since its appointment of Alessandro Michele. At retail Slimane's collections are stellar earners, highlighted by the fact that YSL's parent group Kering saw buoyant revenue increases and posted annual sales of nearly 1 billion euros in the last financial year. Slimane has firmly planted the Saint Laurent aesthetic into the current zeitgeist, and boosted its value in doing so.

And so, four years later, after all the investment of transforming the brand and communicating its vision to consumers, the astronomical costs and painstaking time associated with refurbishing global flagships around the world to complete the new aesthetic now appears obsolete. Has YSL gone back and done a full re-boot? Judging by its Instagram account it has.

Perhaps Kering expected Slimane's departure. In hindsight it was a badly-kept secret accompanied by little surprise when it was announced on April 1st. Whether negotiations failed due to the designer's demands or not, what is relevant is the creative seat at a fashion house is now a short term position. Whereas we may be more apt to blame the corporation for this 'short-termism', the truth is, designers also don't want to sign extensive 5 year contracts, let alone 8 or 10. In fact getting a commitment of 3 or 4 years is the maximum a designer will sign.

This of course makes perfect sense. Designers are no longer churning out a few collections a year, they are expected to deliver multiple collections, from mens and womenswear to pre-collections, mainlines, resort, accessories, capsule ranges and market-specific collections. The treadmill never stops spinning in the creative studio of luxury houses and designers are contracted to be on board spinning at full speed or you're out. Everything is measured by performance.

Raf Simons left Dior because he had no time to think between collections and let the seeds of a new season develop over time. Alexander Wang left Balenciaga because he couldn't focus on his own label while committed to the Paris-based house. Time, it appears, is the ultimate luxury, and corporate fashion companies have profits to earn, stores to operate and rails to fill. We, as consumers, need constant stimulation, even the six months it takes for catwalk collections to be available in-store gives us fashion fatigue.

An imminent solution, therefore, seems nigh on impossible within such a complex matrix industry. Thankfully, fashion has always embraced the new, so however daunting Mr Vaccarello's tasks are after the legacy left by Hedi Slimane, he will certainly be given a chance. No doubt the spring 2017 show in Paris come October will be the one to watch.

Image:Saint Laurent