Saint Laurent deletes its entire Instagram feed

Saint Laurent has been in the headlines a lot over the past week. First, the house announced the departure of its creative director of four years, Hedi Slimane and then, a couple of days later, announced the appointment of his successor, former Versus Versace designer Anthony Vaccarello. Now, Saint Laurent is in the news again, this time for deleting its entire Instagram history. All that remains on its feed, which has just shy of 400,000 followers, is a portrait of their newly-installed CD (see below).

As with most things these days – however banal or innocuous – this has caused something of a social media ruckus. The majority of the complaints seem to be coming from Slimane’s fans, some of whom are accusing the house of being “disrespectful” towards their hero. Their angst is understandable, but Saint Laurent have given Vaccarello a blank canvas for him to reform its brand identity.

And it’s not just the label’s Instagram page that has undergone a change since Slimane’s departure last week – the “Yves” which the designer dropped from its name upon his appointment has reportedly been reinstalled. 

However, if you’re missing Slimane’s presence on your Instagram feed, then might we suggest following the designer’s fan account – @hedislimaneworld – for a daily dose of his fashion and photography, including that for Saint Laurent.

We have reached out to Yves Saint Laurent for comment.