Dario Vitale, creative director of Italian fashion brand Versace, is leaving his post after only eight months, the company confirmed on Thursday.
His departure comes just two days after Prada Group finalized its $1.375 billion acquisition of Versace, marking a new era for the luxury label.
Versace issued a statement, saying, “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.”
Vitale will exit the brand a week from Friday, on December 12, with a successor to be announced in the near future.
In the interim, CEO Emmanuel Gintzburger will oversee the creative team.
The highly anticipated merger is expected to relaunch Versace’s fortunes, after middling post-pandemic performance as part of the U.S. luxury group Capri Holdings.
Prada said in a one-line statement that the acquisition had been completed after receiving all regulatory clearances. Capri Holdings, which owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, said the money would be used to pay down debt.
Donatella Versace welcomed the deal in an Instagram post, which also marked the birthday of the brand’s late founder, her brother, Gianni Versace.
Vitale’s appointment in April was notable, making him only the third creative director and the first not in the Versace family. Donatella Versace took over as creative director when her brother and founder Gianni Versace, was murdered in 1997.
His inaugural collection for the house debuted in September and Vitale’s debut was during Milan Fashion Week and sprawled over two floors of a 17th-century palazzo in Italy.
At the time of Vitale’s debut, he said, Growing up in Italy, he said, made him intimate with the Versace codes, “that kind of a bold attitude, very Italian.’’
“It’s something that belongs to culture. It’s something that you know by heart,’’ he said. “That’s the beauty of this brand, everyone has a soft spot for this brand because it is really like Coca-Cola.’’