It’s now been five months since Saint Laurent announced the departure of its creative director of three-and-a-half-years, Hedi Slimane, and the appointment of his successor, Anthony Vaccarello. Now, less than two weeks before the Belgian-Italian designer’s debut runway show for the house, Saint Laurent has unveiled its new ad campaign.

Shot on the banks of the Seine by Dutch photographic duo Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, the ad stars Polish model Anja Rubik. For those familiar with Vaccarello, this casting choice will come as little surprise – Rubik is a longterm friend and muse of the designer’s.

Speaking of Rubik in a 2014 interview with Dazed, Vaccarello said, “She has that sense of style that most women don’t have. She knows exactly what is good for her, what is good on her. She’s very frank, and I like that. For me, when she says ‘I like this, I don’t like that’ it brings me to something better.”

This feeling is entirely repriocal – in fact, in the same interview Rubik recalls her first encounter with the designer. “We had a mutual friend who told me Anthony wanted me to do the show, and I said I’d come and see the clothes. I met him, and I saw the clothes, and I said: of course.” She goes on to describe Vaccarello’s clothes as a “perfect balance”.

While Slimane’s translation of Yves Saint Laurent’s codes was marked by its reference to musical subcultures, Vaccarello’s is likely to be more feminine and sensual – as this campaign would suggest.

Stay tuned for coverage of Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent debut.