Turns out Anthony Vaccarello took the phrase ‘wiping the slate clean’ fairly literally. Yves Saint Laurent, where Anthony Vaccarello recently took over from Hedi Slimane as Creative Director, decided to wipe their entire Instagram. The only photo up there? One of Vaccarello with the caption “ANTHONY VACCARELLO APPOINTED AS CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF THE MAISON YVES SAINT LAURENT #ANTHONYVACCARELLO #YSL #SAINTLAURENT”. Note the capitals – just in case deleting all of the Instagram(s) hadn’t made it clear enough…

This seems to mark a fairly obvious step away from the changes Slimane had made to the house. Whilst he was at the helm, music had been integral to YSL, with different artist domains frequently being mixed together. The house’s Music Project, a portrait series focusing on the long-standing relationship between rock icons and YSL, photographed stars like Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson.

This array of musical stars were a pretty common feature of YSL’s Instagram, with video insights into the world of rock’n’roll. ‘Hedi’s Diary’ would give a glimpse into the talent he used to walk in the shows, but now that seems a thing of the past. So what can we expect with Vaccarello at the helm? The lone black and white image continues Slimane’s preferred style. Perhaps they’re not getting rid of all memories of the polymath.

After the controversy when Slimane dropped ‘Yves’ from ‘Yves Saint Laurent’, could a return to the old name be on the cards? Whatever it is, it certainly seems on the surface like Vaccarello wants to distance himself from Slimane. We’re missing Hedi’s influence already but this total white-out has got us itching with excitement for the future.