Capelli spent more than three decades at YSL, joining back in 1969 when the couture house was still located at rue Spontini, before being appointed "premier," or senior staff member in the atelier, the key workroom of a fashion house.

"Mr Saint Laurent told me I made a wise choice. He [Alaia] is the nearest to him. If I had not begun working for Mr. Alaia I would have retired," Capelli told Paris’ Match. Also joining Alaia from YSL is Jean Melkonian, the premier suit-maker in YSL’s famed atelier. The arrival of Capelli and Melkonian besides strengthening his staff, will also bolster Alaia’s ability to lure clients from the French establishment.

The two professionals personally supervised the creation of clothes for actress Catherine Deneuve and Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman on the Continent. Though technically speaking not a couturier, Alaia is regarded by more than a few fashion followers here as the true successor of Saint Laurent.

As a senior member of the 150 staff at YSL couture house, Capelli and Melkonian had to undergo a complicated 2002. Workers at YSL staged angry protests this spring against the sale of the company to a French businessman for one Euro. After a French court rejected that deal, Saint Laurent and his long-time partner stepped in and bought their former house for the same symbolic price, beginning a lengthy process of layoffs and compensation to workers.

The YSL ready-to-wear business and accessories business under the creative direction of Tom Ford and its fragrance business YSL Beaute is not connected to the couture house any more.