A Resplendent Display of Role Awareness with YSL Creative Director, Anthony Vaccarello

“He adapts everything to the modern world. It is more than fashion, it is history.”

Catching up on some of the amazing things that have been happening so far this season, we came across this inspiring article, published to the Wall Street Journal on Monday morning, October 31, 2022.

“Anthony Vaccarello Takes Saint Laurent to the Next Level” by Rory Satran (Fashion Director at WSJ).

The piece itself is designed to highlight the massive success of YSL with Vaccarello at the helm. Since his joining the team in 2017, YSL has nearly become a $3 billion brand. What stood out the most to us while reading though, is the calm, the cool and the consistency he appears to convey as a well-respected individual who has achieved such critical success in his industry. A Resplendent Display of Role Awareness with YSL Creative Director, Anthony Vaccarello.

What is role awareness?

Role awareness is a universal core competency that refers to one’s capacity for observing and understanding one's own position, potential and performance in the world or the environment they currently occupy, including any expectations one may be responsible for meeting.

Of course, we don’t know him personally, however, we can deduce from the article, as well what his colleagues and friends have had to say about him, that he has found clarity with what his unique value proposition is within the industry, and perhaps even his overall contribution to the world.

How does Anthony Vaccarello convey role awareness in his role as creative director?

Here are some examples of the things people are saying (Vaccarello included) in reference to Vaccarello and his work:

• “I never think it has to be global… Everyone is intrigued by Saint Laurent because [it] has that Parisian French image. And you like it or you don’t like it.” – Anthony Vaccarello’s response to curiosity that he might feel pressured to produce fashions that are less specific to the Parisian French image, and more global. (Wall Street Journal, 2022)

• “Anthony is like Yves… He adapts everything to the modern world, which is exactly what Yves did for his time. It is more than fashion, it is history.” – Betty Catroux via email. (Wall Street Journal, 2022) Betty is a former model of critical acclaim, and is known to have served as a muse for both Tom Ford and Yves Saint Laurent himself. 

• “He’s very resistant to any sort of pressure from the outside world when it comes to trends or what he should be doing…. He hates hypocrisy—that’s, like, his main thing. So, when he does something, it’s really because he believes in it. He’ll never do something because it’s easy to get attention.” – Anja Rubik, supermodel, muse and friend of Anthony Vaccarello (Wall Street Journal, 2022)

As we transition out of the spooky season and into a season of gratitude, we want to take time to give thanks for the stories that remind us to explore, embrace and express the truth of who we are with confidence and courage. Building a three billion dollar brand is very cool, but you know what else is cool? Knowing who you are and what you bring to the table.

Thanks Rory for this gem of an article, capturing the inspiration of the one and only, Anthony Vaccarello.

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