The Belgian-Italian Creative Director has been giving us art in the truest sense. His recent work and choice of collaborators continue to prove that fashion is about image-making, storytelling, and emotion. At the core of many of his collaborations are artists with deep, considered practices, rooted in a profound understanding of form, history, and technique. 

Courtesy of Saint Laurent

For Saint Laurent’s Summer 2025 campaign, Vaccarello commissioned Italian artist Francesco Clemente to create a series of portraits capturing the spirit of the House’s muses: Zoë Kravitz, Isabella Ferrari, and models Penelope Ternes and Ajus Samuel.

“I first discovered Clemente’s work in the 1990s. I could perfectly imagine my collection being portrayed by his poetic use of colors,” Vaccarello says. “There is only one language of form, and it is the same as the language of tenderness,” he adds.

Courtesy of Saint Laurent

Born in Naples, Italy, in 1952, Clemente first rose to prominence through the Transavanguardia movement, known for its emotional, figurative style. Best known for his use of watercolor, pastel, and gouache, he quickly developed a distinct narrative of his own hat allowed him to explore identity, transformation, and the nature of the self.

His work merges Western surrealism with Eastern esotericism, deeply influenced by his time living in India. In the 1980s, he became part of New York’s downtown scene, collaborating with cultural icons like Warhol, Basquiat, and Ginsberg. Today, Clemente splits his time between New York, India, and Italy.

Courtesy of Saint Laurent

This collaboration expands the mythology of the French Maison with portraits that meditate on identity, on the role of muses, and on the emotional gravity that fashion holds when placed in the hands of someone who understands its purpose.