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Are we already one major designer down in 2016? Front Row Daily just published a rumor that Hedi Slimane may have left Saint Laurent "over the holiday due to creative differences." No sources are named in the post, and "calls to the Saint Laurent U.S. PR team today were met with 'No comment.'"
This would be surprising if true, considering that Slimane's Saint Laurent is hugely successful. His grunge-punk princess aesthetic may have been panned by critics, but annual sales more than doubled from 2011 to 2014.
If Slimane is out, he would join a long list of designers who have recently vacated their posts in the past year. In 2015, Raf Simons announced he would leave Dior and Alber Elbaz dramatically parted ways with Lanvin; neither brands have named a replacement. Other major splits included Alexander Wang and Balenciaga, while Donna Karan stepped down at her namesake company and Gucci appointed Alessandro Michele as Frida Giannini's replacement.
Update: Saint Laurent is denying the claim. The Daily Front Row updated the post to read, "Saint Laurent PR has followed up denying that Hedi Slimane has left the company."
Saint Laurent has reached out to us to confirm that Hedi Slimane has NOT left Saint Laurent!
— DailyFrontRow® (@DailyFrontRow) January 4, 2016