Is there nonetheless room in style for true originality?
That’s the query raised by the most recent information out of Milan: Versace designer Dario Vitale, the just lately put in inventive head who confirmed a surprisingly well-received assortment in Milan in September, is departing the model.
“Versace and its Chief Creative Officer, Dario Vitale, have mutually agreed to part ways effective from December 12th, 2025,” the model stated in a press release. “We would like to sincerely thank Dario for his outstanding contribution to the development of the brand’s creative strategy during this transition period, and we wish him all the very best in his future endeavors.”
The information comes simply two days after Prada Group closed a deal to acquire Versace for $1.44 billion. That deal, introduced in April, one month after Vitale was appointed, led to trade hypothesis as as to whether the designer would proceed in his position. You don’t spend a cool billion on a style model simply to uphold the established order.
The assertion on Vitale’s departure was signed by new govt chairman Lorenzo Bertelli, the son of Prada govt director and co-creative director Miuccia Prada and Prada govt director Patrizio Bertelli, who can also be the chairman of the board of administrators. Lorenzo Bertelli continues in his positions as chief advertising officer and head of company social accountability at Prada.
Vitale, a forty-something Italian who for 15 years labored for Prada’s fantastical-lady-gone-geeky label Miu Miu, was not probably the most anticipated arrival in final season’s slate of buzzy debuts – however that’s precisely what made his present thrilling. Yes, lots of his appears to be like have been wacky and cheesy, like cocktail clothes that have been tucked into underwear to disclose fashions’ butts, or nipple-baring too-tight tank tops with ab-revealing low-slung sleeve holes. But the style world is overloaded with manufacturers persevering with to capitalize on the quiet luxurious development with Philophile-lite silhouettes (or designs primarily based on the now decade-plus-old language of Phoebe Philo), pushing customers in the direction of a imaginative and prescient of protected, conservative respectability. Vitale’s present, with its youthful casting and racy styling, was a uncommon cry of honest, skillfully made dangerous style – one other sort of magnificence.
The assortment additionally managed to generate dialog and constructive opinions with out the trade infrastructure — like a glowing journal profile or a splashy rollout of tantalizing advertising photographs on social media earlier than the present — that usually brings about such acclaim.
It was the primary Versace assortment within the model’s 47-year historical past that was not designed by the late Gianni Versace, who died in 1997, or Donatella Versace, who succeeded her brother and designed the label till she departed in March, shortly earlier than Vitale joined. But it had Gianni Versace’s humanist sleaze: an assertion that people who find themselves a bit of corny, very shameless and tremendous kitschy should be as exalted as those that recognize beige cashmere sweaters and well-cut trousers.
Neither Miuccia Prada nor Donatella Versace attended Vitale’s present. A consultant for Versace stated that “Donatella’s intention was to give Dario his space for the debut.” Prada didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The style trade, which is ever extra obsessive about progress as the main focus narrows to only a few key, conglomerate-run gamers, is mostly working the danger of pushing apart inventive ingenuity. Can a designer click on with customers and editors with out the massive shiny push of selling? Can a designer who doesn’t make “good taste” luxurious garments, or makes one thing outrageous with out the imprimatur of a well known emblem, discover success and safety?
But Prada CEO Andrea Guerra indicated at a Business of Fashion occasion late final month that Prada was not wanting to rock the boat at Versace. “Especially at the beginning, stability is a very important word,” Guerra stated. “And this is what we are going to do. We are going to care about everyone working in Versace. And we are going to care about everything that is happening in Versace. The only thing I don’t want to happen is I don’t want to kill the patient while we cure it.”
Rarely do designers depart after a single assortment, except their first present receives notably disastrous opinions. But the chemistry might merely have been incorrect, as Bertelli’s assertion that they’ve “mutually agreed to part ways” suggests.
Prada is thought within the trade because the vanguard of difficult and inventive designs, as is Miu Miu. Lorenzo Bertelli’s memo stated {that a} new inventive director “will be announced in due course.” Let’s hope they know find out how to shock.
Correction:
A earlier model of this story misstated Patrizio Bertelli’s title. He is govt director of Prada and chairman of the board of administrators.