Dario Vitale may be relatively unknown to the public but not for long. The Italian designer has just been appointed chief creative officer of Versace to work alongside Donatella Versace who becomes chief brand ambassador.
Vitale, who was born in 1983 near Naples, began his career at Bottega Veneta after graduating from Istituto Marangoni in 2006 and working for a year at Dsquared2. In July 2010, he moved to Miu Miu, where he stayed until late January, growing from the role of fashion designer to design director for ready-to-wear and brand image design director. He worked under the creative stewardship of Miuccia Prada for 14 years as well as alongside Fabio Zambernardi, who was design director of both the Prada and Miu Miu brands until he left in September 2023. Since the word got out that Dario was departing Miu Miu, he has been rumoured to be top contender for Bottega Veneta and Gucci among others.
The designer has played a big role in Miu Miu’s stellar growth. The brand’s retail sales were up 93 per cent in 2024 after a 58 per cent increase in 2023. Miu Miu ranked first in Lyst’s hottest brands for all quarters of 2024 except Q2 when Miu Miu ranked second behind Loewe.
Vitale doesn’t fall in the big name designer category, nor does he have a strong presence on social media (he had less than 4,000 Instagram followers before the announcement of his appointment, a far cry from Donatella Versace’s 12.2 million) but he is skilled both in terms of product as well as image.
Versace, which is part of Capri Holdings, has been struggling in recent years as the fashion pendulum swung to minimalism, a departure from the house’s core aesthetic codes. In the quarter ending 28 December, the company reported revenue of $193 million (down 15 per cent) and an operating loss of $21 million. “Versace is a brand with great global awareness, heritage and legitimacy in many product categories. If managed well and with the right creative boost, Versace could be a gold mine. Dario Vitale has had the great privilege of working for so many years with an indisputable creative genius like Miuccia Prada,” says Mario Ortelli, managing director of M&A advisory Ortelli Co.
Prada Group CEO Andrea Guerra declined to comment on rumours that the group is the frontrunner to acquire Versace from Capri Holdings during its recent earnings call. But if a deal was to go through, Vitale would be well placed, having worked for 14 years under Miuccia Prada. “This [announcement] is going to further fuel the speculations of Versace’s acquisition by the Prada Group,” Ortelli notes.
What Miu Miu and Versace have in common is a reflection on the chic bourgeois Italian woman. Vitale will have the ability to reinterpret that archetype through the Versace archives. “I am thrilled that Dario Vitale will be joining us and excited to see Versace through new eyes,” Donatella Versace said in today’s release. “He’s a strong leader, and we are confident that his talent and vision will be instrumental to Versace’s future growth,” John Idol, chairman and CEO of Capri Holdings added.
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