Court orders Saint Laurentt tot pay ex-designer $11M

The owner of Gucci and Balenciaga brands thought it could pay the king of skinny jeans less than $1 million net for his last year at Saint Laurent. They were wrong.

In designer Hedi Slimane’s (left) lawsuit against the luxury group Kering SA, a French court ruled last week that he had been underpaid by as much as $11.5 million after taxes for his last year of service.

In 2016, the 49-year-old had received net pay of $825,000 even after sales at Kering’s Yves Saint Laurent SAS division roughly tripled during the four years he was creative director.

The ruling opens a window into the lucrative contracts star designers get for their sought-after input in the fashion industry. At Saint Laurent, Slimane had a clause guaranteeing compensation after taxes of at least 10 million euros a year, mostly through an agreement to buy shares in the company and sell them back at a higher price, according to the March 28 Paris Commercial Court ruling.

Before joining Saint Laurent, Slimane had established his reputation as one of fashion’s most bankable designers during a stint at LVMH’s Dior Homme, where he set the agenda for menswear for more than a decade by bringing back skinny jeans and equally narrow suits. Earlier this year, LVMH said it had rehired Slimane to succeed the British designer Phoebe Philo as creative director of its Celine label, where he is set to add menswear and couture.

A spokesman for Kering said the company planned to appeal the court’s decision, but declined to comment further. Slimane’s lawyer, Herve Temime, said his client wouldn’t issue a statement on the case.

During four years at the iconic fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent, Slimane shortened the brand name to “Saint Laurent,” moved its studio from Paris to Los Angeles, revamped stores with a slick, monochromatic look and a lineup of products inspired by rockand-roll and youth culture. Blackand-white ad campaigns were shot by the designer himself. Lady Gaga was a big fan.

But Slimane’s departure from Saint Laurent in 2016 turned into a messy divorce, with Kering and the designer fighting over issues including a $1.2 million payment for his noncompete clause. The company attempted to waive the clause, but was ordered by a French court to pay up in June 2016.