Today’s news that Hedi Slimane has parted ways with Saint Laurent puts this year’s most fraught speculation at an official end. The house confirmed Slimane's departure via press release, stating that, "at the end of a four-year mission, which has led to the complete repositioning of the brand, the Maison Yves Saint Laurent announces the departure of Hedi Slimane as its creative and image director."

François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, added: “What Yves Saint Laurent has achieved over the past four years represents a unique chapter in the history of the house. I am very grateful to Hedi Slimane, and the whole Yves Saint Laurent team, for having set the path that the house has successfully embraced, and which will grant longevity to this legendary brand.” The release notes that a new creative organization "will be communicated in due course."

Slimane hardly slipped away silently. Within the space of a month, his two very different shows—one, an L.A. happening at the Hollywood Palladium, the other, a total surprise, at the brand-new La Maison Yves Saint Laurent on the Left Bank in Paris on March 7—only went to further underline his controversial powers as a scene-maker, rule-breaker, and divider of opinions.

The L.A. event, staged in front of a vast cross-generational audience of fans from music, art, and Hollywood, mixed menswear with womenswear in high ’70s glitter, leather, velvet, and midi-skirted glam-rock style, and then segued into the nearest fashion’s ever got to a festival all-nighter with performances from Beck, Joan Jett, Allah-Las, and more. In Paris, it was almost opposite: an extreme, short-skirted, poufed, pinnacle-shouldered exaggeration of the early-’80s glamour of Yves Saint Laurent’s haute couture. It was sent out in the hushed chandelier-lit surroundings of a maison—whose 18-month restoration had been kept a relative secret—before the astonished eyes of the few.

At the end, Slimane darted from behind a mirrored screen, kissed Pierre Bergé, Yves Saint Laurent’s former partner, who was sitting in the front row, and it was over.

Where this leaves Slimane’s immediate future is unknown. It seems likely he plans a break, retreating into the life he has kept private while living in L.A. What’s certain is that he leaves Saint Laurent as an uncompromising revolutionizer and one of the most valuable star properties in fashion. Since taking over in 2012 as creative director of the brand then known at Yves Saint Laurent, the company’s owner, Kering, empowered him to make over the house image and product root and branch, from the black-and-white rock-linked photography (his own) to the pointed tips of the black suede Chelsea boots he turned into a ragingly popular best seller.