After the Gold Rush: Fashion's Succession Week

On October 9, Kering confirmed what the golden grandeur of the September 29 show had already told the front row: Anthony Vaccarello is leaving Saint Laurent after a decade as creative director. His farewell post was captioned simply "A bientot." Reuters reports his successor will be announced soon, with industry speculation pointing to Chemena Kamali, currently at Chloe and a former Saint Laurent womenswear design director.

The exit closes the era that defined a decade of Paris dressing: the sharp shoulder, the evening-as-armor silhouette, the ruffled gowns that became last year's most-copied editorial look. Analysts note the incoming designer's brief will skew toward under-represented categories like women's daywear and high-end leather goods — expect the house's codes to soften into the daytime wardrobe next year.

For shoppers, the immediate read is gold. Vaccarello's final collection ran on gold dresses, gold trenches and gold stilettos under giant gold chandeliers, a nod to the 1976 Salon Imperial show. Expect gold hardware, molten finishes and sculptural gold jewelry to ride this news cycle all week.

Zara's two-year partnership with John Galliano dropped its first chapter, Re{form} Vol. 1, on October 1 — the first time Galliano has worked with a mass-market retailer, and the first of four planned volumes. The concept is genuinely different from a standard designer collab: Galliano started from Zara's own archive of sold garments and cut, spliced, foil-printed and rebuilt them with couture techniques — a shirt enlarged threefold into a leather-look coat, a lace dress reworked into a ruffled neckpiece, trousers sliced into sans-culotte breeches.

The standout accessory is the Tri-Chic, Zara's first named bag: a reversible sack inspired by a bin bag, wearable three ways — handheld, shoulder, backpack — with straps and a metal chain fastening. Campaign imagery comes from Steven Meisel, and the palette runs from heritage blacks and burgundies to film-noir acid brights.

Reviews are split on value — prices run $29.99 to $999.99, and independent reviewers say the tulle hero dresses are finished beautifully while some pieces show raw edges — but the debate itself is the signal. This is the high street's most ambitious luxury play, and it is selling a story, not just stock.

Scan Instagram this week and one silhouette owns the feed: the knee-high boot. It is the single most consistent item across street-style posts, brand carousels and fitting-room reels from October 9-11 — worn with mini skirts, sweater dresses, leather minis, denim and bare legs alike. Black leather is the default, but the momentum has spread: chocolate suede, burgundy leather and leopard print are all posting in volume.

The details matter. Square toes are the season's defining toe shape, gold buckle and bit hardware keeps appearing at the shaft, and slouchy silhouettes are challenging the sleek riding boot. Creators are styling them as the outfit's main event — boots plus tights plus a short hem is doing the work that tailoring did last fall.

If there is one purchase to make this week, it is this category. The price ladder is unusually democratic: entry-level under $80 on sale, the $200 sweet spot for the square-toe suede classic, and statement versions in burgundy and animal print.

Fall 2026's color story has settled into a two-tone engine: chocolate brown and burgundy, worn together or head-to-toe. The evidence is everywhere this week — tonal brown suede outfits pulling 50K-plus likes, burgundy boots with gold logo hardware breaking out of the black-boot default, burgundy leather skirts paired with black overcoats in city dressing.

Chocolate works as the softer alternative to black; burgundy functions almost as a neutral against navy, cream, gray and denim. Together they are the season's easiest formula: pick one as the base, the other as the accent, finish with gold. The suede hobo in dark chocolate is the bag shape carrying the look.