Here’s an instructive if simplistic option to perceive vogue in 2026: there are brainy manufacturers, and there are physique manufacturers.
Chanel, Hermès, Ralph Lauren – brainy manufacturers. They tickle your notions about standing, id and craftmanship. Then there are physique manufacturers, like Dior, which made the hourglass into its raison d’etre, or Dolce & Gabbana, with its unapologetic celebration of Italian aptitude. Such names flatter your bodily self-importance by silhouette or logos or each, however a physique model might not merely excel at making you look scorching and younger. It can be about what makes you want, mistake “want” for “need,” and act irrationally on the prospect of a five-figure bank card assertion. Similarly, a brainy model may make you are feeling a bit smarter for sporting one thing that isn’t clearly flattering or interesting, like a Yohji Yamamoto gown or a boxy Prada shirtdress.
Versace, one of many final physique manufacturers as champion of chainmail cocktail clothes, supermodel worship and the revealing frock as a vessel for feminine empowerment, has simply named Pieter Mulier as its new designer, efficient from July.
“When we considered the Versace acquisition, we identified Pieter Mulier as the right person for the brand,” mentioned Versace’s new govt chairman and Prada inheritor Lorenzo Bertelli in an announcement. “We believe that he can truly unlock Versace’s full potential and that he will be able to engage in a fruitful dialogue with the brand’s strong legacy. We are excited to begin this journey together.”
The attention-grabbing factor? Mulier is extra of a brainy man.
Before we get into the cold and hot of it, let’s pause for a fast Versace temperature test. Mulier arrives simply as Versace comes under the umbrella of Prada to the tune of $1.44 billion, and the trail to get him there has not been easy crusing. Less than a yr in the past (in March 2025, earlier than Prada introduced its intentions to purchase the label), Versace named Dario Vitale – himself a Prada alum, having labored for its brainy model Miu Miu for over a decade – as its inventive director after Donatella Versace stepped aside. The subsequent month, Prada introduced it could purchase Versace from the American group Capri Holdings, reuniting Vitale along with his former employers. Vitale confirmed a ravenously received collection in Milan final September, however when the Versace-Prada deal closed on the finish of final yr, Vitale departed days later.
It’s sufficient for a very juicy episode of “The Sopranos” through which everybody takes type notes from Carmela, or a Puccini opera.
The vogue world continues to be driving excessive on Vitale – regardless of his state of unemployment, his designs are showing on crimson carpets and journal covers, his first (and solely) marketing campaign is broadly shared on social media, and the model is internet hosting a celebration in its New York flagship to rejoice the arrival of Vitale’s assortment in shops throughout New York Fashion Week subsequent week.
But vogue is a cutthroat enterprise, and Versace, whereas presumably keen to maintain prospects engaged within the midst of this transition, is clearly prepared to maneuver on. (That Mulier is a protégé of Prada co-creative director Raf Simons doubtless sweetens the temper in-house.) Mulier is beloved, in any case: whereas some critics have described his designs as misogynist of their revealing or body-constricting strategy, he’s the uncommon expertise whose items attraction to vogue insiders (Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Samira Nasr, The Cut vogue director Jess Willis) and TikTok influencers alike.
Still, you must ask: is it the appropriate match?
Over 5 years, the Belgian-born Mulier turned the French label Alaïa right into a powerhouse for refined and cerebral equipment (jeweled and mesh flats, dachshund-shaped purses) that went viral time and time once more. He places on improbable runway reveals with aggressively sexy garments.
Mulier’s energy is that he’s in a position to design a sexy gown as a classy reasonably than sleazy assertion. The necklines might plunge, the abs could also be uncovered, however his tubular hoods on formfitting turtlenecks, balloon trousers, and animalistic thigh-high fringe boots present he’s usually prepared to sacrifice a girl’s overt attraction for one thing extra elusive. But Mulier’s designs are at instances so emphatic of their ingenuity that they prioritize their innovation over the wearer. They are affirmations of style and snobbery, not celebrations of his feminine wearers as goddesses, which Gianni Versace’s garments had been. (The late Azzedine Alaïa shared this high quality, and Azzedine purists level to this as a key distinction between the founder and his successor.) Mulier makes being a vogue sufferer appear to be a heck of time.
Gianni Versace’s girls had been by no means so subservient. His designs may make ladies and men look garish, of their unorthodox however tacky supplies (crystal mesh, latex, S&M buckles). But Versace’s energy was that he gathered up the supplies, figures and concepts about garments and getting dressed that the world noticed as lowbrow or distasteful and flung them to excessive vogue’s loftiest heights. He beloved opera and effective artwork, but additionally thought Madonna was a genius and Naomi Campbell was his Venus. (And he was proper, on each counts!)
During her three many years on the household enterprise, Donatella Versace took this philosophy to its zenith, pairing outrageous designs with simply the appropriate celeb, to proclaim {that a} plunging neckline, or a glittery jumpsuit, was an announcement of empowerment. Jennifer Lopez elevated celeb to a efficiency as a result of she dared to put on that belly-baring inexperienced gown to the 2000 Grammys. At instances paralyzed by self-doubt and criticism, Donatella believed within the life-changing magic of an amazing cocktail gown (or hair day) to raise or defend your self. She was the last word optimist: what’s massive is greatest, and vice-versa.
Mulier is a professed fan and student of Versace. Will he let his ego alone information him? The date for his debut present has not but been introduced. But if he’s prepared to stretch that fabulous mind, he may carry the style world one thing it has barely dared to dream of: a girl, or not less than a model, with brains and brawn.