THE FIRST GLIMPSES INTO WHAT CAN BE EXPECTED FROM DARIO VITALE’S VERSACE

words VERONICA TLAPANCO SZABÓ

The 41-year-old Southern Italian, who in March assumed one of fashion’s most coveted roles, chief creative officer of Versace, steps into a house steeped in history, with the public eager to see what comes next. Many many questions arise: How has he navigated the leap from Miu Miu’s well-kept secret to one of the industry’s brightest spotlighted talents? And, perhaps most pressing of all, what exactly will his Versace look like?

Bronzi di Riace by Anonymous courtesy of Versace

Some answers begin to emerge in a project titled Versace Embodied, an exploration that seeks to speak to the very essence of the House and plant the seeds for what is to come under Vitale’s direction. Among the works featured, one image immediately arrests the eye, the Bronzi di Riace (c. 460–450 BC), first exhibited at the Palazzo del Quirinale in 1981: a monumental nude bronze figure, unveiled to the public for the first time. An anonymous lens captured the encounter suspended between power and vulnerability, the image traces the threads that connect antiquity’s timeless intensity to the House of Versace today. Another moment emerges in Summer in the South of Italy (2025), photographed by Andrea Modica. Renowned for her luminous, intimate portraits, Modica turns her lens toward youth, evoking inheritance and the House’s southern roots. This leads us finally to the poetics of Put It Back (2025), a new work by Eileen Myles. The poet and novelist, long celebrated for dissolving the boundaries between genres, writes with transgressive candor, “between life and death is me searching for you” an evocation of the house’s inherent intimacy. 

left:
Summer in the South of Italy by Andrea Modica courtesy of Versace

right:
Medusa by Camille Vivier courtesy of Versace

What emerges is a chorus of expression in solidarity with the pioneers who shift culture forward free, and unafraid. Speculation is now in order: how might all of this take shape on the runway? Technically, it isn’t the very first glimpse of Vitale’s vision at Versace, which first took place at Venice when Julia Roberts and Amanda Seyfried caused a minor commotion with their ‘sisterhood of the traveling pants’ moment by swapping looks mid film festival. For now, Dario Vitale stays honouring Versace’s lineage by opening its doors, returning to the Medusa that adorns the entrance at via Gesù, 12, captured by Camille Vivier and inviting the world inside.

Put It Back by Eileen Myles courtesy of Versace