Dario Vitale exits Versace

It had been in the air for a while. First came the news that Dario Vitale’s debut show for Versace would be an intimate presentation. Then the news that Donatella Versace was absent from said presentation – let’s call it a bad omen. The lukewarm reviews of a first collection that nevertheless had its merits. Today, finally, confirmation: Dario Vitale is leaving Versace after just one collection.

The new creative direction had begun right on the cusp of the brand’s handover from Capri Holdings to the Prada Group, and it was not built on solid ground. From what can be gathered, Vitale had been hired by Capri Holdings at a time when the acquisition deal by the Prada Group had already been initiated but not yet finalized. The reason there was no runway show.

That said, we don’t know what went on behind closed doors. Perhaps the Prada Group wanted a more high-profile creative director; perhaps Vitale (whom the Miu Miu executives had tried to keep when he resigned didn’t want to find himself working again for the same employers he had just left; perhaps certain elements of the brand’s communication strategy and the reception of the debut show did not align with the ideas of the new owners, who, more than gradual success, need an explosion of popularity to quickly recoup the huge investment made in the brand.

Other rumors claim Vitale wanted to pursue other personal projects about which, however, we know nothing. Whatever the official press releases won’t tell us, the fashion-world gossip, which is never in short supply, especially in Milan, will reveal.