Valérie Hermann Steps Down as YSL's Chief Executive

Valérie Hermann —who partnered with designer Stefano Pilati to restore Yves Saint Laurent to profitable growth — is passing the baton, WWD has learned.

Chief executive officer at the French fashion house since 2005, Hermann assisted in recruiting her successor, former Lanvin ceo Paul Deneve, who will arrive at the management helm in mid-April.

Hermann said she plans to remain at YSL through the upcoming fall-winter 2011 sales campaign before moving to the United States to take up a new challenge outside of PPR, parent of the Gucci Group luxury division of which YSL is part.

She declined to identify her next step, and the identity of her next employer could not immediately be learned. [WWD.com]