What is Going on at Versace?

News broke this morning that Dario Vitale, who was hired by Versace in March to succeed Donatella Versace as the first non-family member to helm the creative operations of the brand, is exiting the label. Vitale showed just one collection for the label in September and will exit the brand officially on December 12.

It wasn’t the only shakeup at Versace this week. On Tuesday, Versace was officially acquired by the Prada Group—which includes labels like Prada, Miu Miu, and Church’s in its portfolio—in a $1.25 billion deal and Lorenzo Bertelli, the Prada family scion, was announced as executive chairman of the brand. It is certainly a new beginning for the label, which despite being a cultural powerhouse has faced financial difficulties in recent years. Brand revenues had declined 15% in fiscal year 2025, as reported by former Versace owner Capri Holdings, which also owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo.

“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,” said Bertelli in a statement. The Versace creative team will continue to operate under the guidance of its CEO Emmanuel Gintzburger as the brand looks ahead toward the Fall/Winter fashion week circuit in February and March.

Dario Vitale, Mia Hamiyeh, and Donatella Versace pictured in October, 2025.

Kate Green/Getty Images

The acquisition, together with Vitale’s exit, is the beginning of the Prada Group’s untangling of the many knots weighing down Versace. Capri Holdings, which was called Michael Kors Holding when it acquired Versace in 2018 for over $2.1 billion, was meant to in turn be acquired by Tapestry, which owns Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman. But, that merger was rejected by the US Federal Trade Commission at the beginning of this year—in short, the FTC concluded that such a scenario would have allowed Tapestry to own a monopoly of the affordable luxury handbag market based on its brand portfolio. This failed acquisition prompted the sale of Versace and the exit of Donatella, who had led the brand since 1997, and now remains at the brand in the role of brand ambassador.

When Vitale, 42, was hired in March, many in the industry believed that his new role portended the Prada-Versace acquisition, which was later announced in April. Before this, Vitale had been a longtime deputy of Miuccia Prada at Miu Miu, and had reportedly been instrumental to the label’s ascent from a well-known brand to a viral trend-maker and Gen Z sartorial oracle in recent years.

While it’s not rare in luxury fashion for new owners to reorganize the creative structure of these labels, Vitale’s standing at Versace had been plagued with speculation from the very beginning. Industry insiders have said that Prada honchos don’t take well to employee departures—who in the corporate world does, really—and Vitale had been at Miu Miu for 14 years. Others speculate that Vitale did not expect to leave the Prada Group for Versace only to find himself right back where he was. Bertelli’s statement says that Vitale and Versace have “mutually agreed to part ways.”

Vitale was one of 21 new designer debuts in luxury fashion in 2025, and one of 16 for the Spring/Summer 2026 season in September (others included Demna at Gucci, Jonathan Anderson at Christian Dior, and Matthieu Blazy at Chanel). His collection for Versace was the undeniable dark horse in the race: he was not even meant to host a fashion show initially, but he showed a presentation instead at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan. The collection was one of the most well-received of the season, prompting many rave reviews for its sensual libertine edge, and its ’80s louche feel, which insiders and critics paralleled to Gianni Versace’s early work before the label became the go-to va va voom popstar uniform.

It felt like a new direction for Versace, yes, but it also felt familiar—vintage, even. Those colorful trousers harkened back to Versus Versace in the ’90s, and the baroque ornamentation that has beguiled those Millennials in their late 30s and early 40s who I like to call vintage pleasure seekers: They buy and collect vintage fashion for sport.

Vitale’s jeans were styled unbuttoned and cut to tightly frame the crotch, tank tops were presented fully backless, and the most opulent pieces were fully embroidered bralettes and leather chaps and skirts, which were slit fully up the thigh. This air of rebellion was welcome against the backdrop of the more prim and sophisticated fashion on the runways, which were, rather than speaking to fashion fanatics, looking to charm the rich back into luxury stores. Vitale’s perspective for Versace was more aligned with cult labels like Martine Rose and Magliano and it communicated an urgency and need for transgression that seems missing broadly within fashion today.

The Prada Group has said that a new organization will be announced in due time. But the move helps flame speculation of a possible chasm between Vitale and his former employers. Creative reorganizations are often the result of declining sales or poorly received collections, which does not seem to be the case here given that Vitale’s collection has not arrived at stores yet, and will not until the spring if the brand decides to push forward with it at retail. The rumor mill has already started to mull who may become his successor. Pierre A. M’Pelé, the former head of editorial content at GQ France and founder of Scrnsht, who is known online as Pam Boy, posted on Threads today that Donatella is “allegedly returning” to Versace.

What exactly is fact and fiction here, who knows? What is real is that fashion’s game of designer musical chairs is back on starting today.