Dario Vitale is the new creative director at Versace, the house announced today. The news marks a historic transition at the Italian house. Vitale’s debut collection will be the first in its 47-year history not creatively overseen by either Gianni or Donatella Versace.
That bloodline of connection between Versace and the Versaces is not entirely cut, however: simultaneous to announcing Vitale’s appointment, the house stated that Donatella will continue to act as its embodiment. Her title will change to chief brand ambassador.
“Championing the next generation of designers has always been important to me. I am thrilled that Dario Vitale will be joining us, and excited to see Versace through new eyes. I want to thank my incredible design team and all the employees at Versace that I have had the privilege of working with for over three decades. It has been the greatest honor of my life to carry on my brother Gianni’s legacy. He was the true genius, but I hope I have some of his spirit and tenacity. In my new role as chief brand ambassador, I will remain Versace’s most passionate supporter. Versace is in my DNA and always in my heart,” said Versace.
“I am truly honored to join Versace as the Chief Creative Officer and to be a part of this special and powerful fashion luxury House created by Gianni and Donatella. The House of Versace has a unique heritage that has spanned decades and has shaped the history of fashion. I want to express my sincere thank you to Donatella for her trust in me, and for her tireless dedication to the extraordinary brand that Versace is today. It is a privilege to contribute to the future growth of Versace and its global impact through my vision, expertise and dedication,” said Vitale.
Photo: Stef Mitchell
Vitale, 41, is widely seen as one of the most exciting and innovative up-and-comers in the Milan fashion scene. He graduated from Istituto Marangoni in 2006, working first at Dsquared2 for a year and then Bottega Veneta under Tomas Maier. He joined Miu Miu in 2010, where he worked his way up the ladder to become design director of ready-to-wear and head of image. He departed Prada’s sister house this January.
Today’s news comes seven years after the Versace family sold its controlling interest in Versace, alongside a 20 per cent slice owned by Blackstone, to US group Capri for €1.83 billion. As part of the deal, Donatella stayed on under contract as Versace’s chief creative officer to both lead collection design and represent the house more broadly.
Speculation is currently rife that Capri Holdings is moving to sell Versace. The group, which also owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, has come under intense pressure following the collapse last year of its proposed merger with Tapestry (owner of Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman). The $8.5 billion creation of what would have been the largest US-held luxury conglomerate was blocked by the Federal Trade Commission on competition grounds. It has since been reported that both Versace and Jimmy Choo are up for sale, with interested parties so far in Versace understood to include Prada Group.
Donatella Versace walks the runway at the SS25 show in September 2024.
Photo: Pietro D’Aprano/Getty Images
While Versace’s future remains unclear for now, today’s news marks a profound break with its past. Reggio Calabria-born Gianni Versace worked at Italian fashion labels, including Callaghan and Genny, before founding his own label in 1978 at the suggestion of his business-minded brother, Santo, who became CEO. Donatella was alongside them from the very start. Their younger sister acted as both ‘muse’ and company designer: in the early 1980s, she was also instrumental in acquiring at auction the house’s palazzo on Milan’s Via Gesù, home of the original Versace Medusa bas-relief.
After its establishment in 1989, Donatella began working on Atelier Versace (where she was first inspired to introduce the safety pin as a piece of house iconography, she later recounted). When Gianni created the diffusion line Versus in 1993, he entrusted Donatella with oversight of its design. The family, although prone to spirited debate, was also fiercely close-knit. As Gianni once said: “You can trust them. You can fight with them and be back in love. We can fight at six o’clock and have a nice dinner at eight.”
Donatella and Gianni Versace at the Vogue Magazine 100th Anniversary in 1993.
Photo: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
When Gianni was murdered on the steps of his Miami Beach house in July 1997, aged 50, he was in his prime of invention and renown. Versace had reported revenues of $807 million the previous year. He left his niece, Allegra Versace Beck, Donatella’s then 11-year-old daughter, all of his 50 per cent stake in the company. Santo held 30 per cent, and Donatella, who stepped up to lead design, held 20 per cent. Donatella later recalled: “The king was dead, but we had to give hope to the people around him and to the company. I felt obligated to assure the creative team around Gianni that we were going to row the boat together.”
The next decade was challenging. As Versace mourned, she also struggled. Amidst occasional bright spots—such as Jennifer Lopez’s memorable 2000 outing in the Versace dress that inspired the invention of Google Images—the business reckoned with debts and faltering revenues, while Donatella eventually went into rehab to overcome addiction. She once said of this period: “Everything crashed around me. Nothing was right. I was still trying to find my way, but I knew it wasn’t the right way… I had to find who I am without Gianni—because I was his shadow, you know?”
Jennifer Lopez at the Grammy Awards in 2000 in the Versace dress that inspired the invention of Google Images.
Photo: Scott Gries/ImageDirect
From around the turn of the 2010s, Versace began to regain its vigor, with a revitalized Donatella emerging as a cultural icon, championing LGBT rights, directing Versace to cease the use of fur, and settling with knowing humor into character as a dazzlingly blonde, larger-than-life fashion superstar. Once, when asked about her beauty regime, she replied: “I sleep every night in the deep freezer.”
In 2014, the family sold 20 percent of the company to Blackstone for €210 million. By 2017, the first rumors emerged that the entire concern might be up for sale (although Gianni and Santo had once discussed a merger with Gucci shortly before Gianni’s death). Asked about the prospect of another designer leading Versace’s future creative direction, Donatella said: “Yes, I am Versace. But also, Versace needs to mean change. And it needs to be an opportunity for others to express themselves.”
Yet Donatella would continue to lead the house, perhaps most memorably for a spring 2018 collection that marked the 20th anniversary of her brother’s death by reuniting some of the key supermodels he had championed during the 1990s. Naomi Campbell, Carla Bruni, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Helena Christensen all appeared in signature gold chain mail for a mise-en-scene that epitomized Donatella’s ability to combine sexiness with self-determination. As she once said: “I want to design clothes that say ‘this is a woman’s clothes’. Women are strong, and sexiness does not have to go against power. I can be more powerful than you as a woman and keep what I like. I don’t have to change myself to reach you, to talk to you, or to be relevant. That is what I’m saying.”
Liz Hurley in her famous Versace safety-pin dress at the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral with then-boyfriend Hugh Grant in May 1994.
Photo: Dave Benett/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
As well as consistently delivering some of the best one-liners in the business, Versace also commands great friendship and loyalty. Of Elton John, who was instrumental in her recovery from addiction, she once said: “Elton has my hand. He has always protected and looked after me and I love that about him.” Speaking in Vogue’s latest cover story, Gigi Hadid cites Donatella as one of her earliest champions. Jennifer Lopez has spoken of sharing with Donatella: “a natural organic relationship that wasn’t forced. It is a friendship that goes back many years.” And Anne Hathaway has said of Donatella: “I’m a huge fan of her work and everything she stands for… I know that everything she does has family at the core of it.”
Vitale’s ascension to the top creative job at Versace is exciting. In his role at Miu Miu, he has, under Miuccia Prada, helped shape the image and product of a house that recorded 93 per cent growth in 2024. Should Versace be sold, its new owners will doubtless hope he can import his revitalizing influence to his new home. Yet the fact that it is Donatella Versace who is passing him the torch makes the moment bittersweet. There are very few characters in fashion to whom the word icon can be justly applied. Donatella Versace, however, is without question one of them — and her achievements on fashion’s runways have been iconic too.
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