Why Armani Brought in Dario Vitale

MILAN – Former Versace and Miu Miu designer Dario Vitale has been named creative director of Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani accessories, heralding a new aesthetic era for some of Armani’s biggest lines a year after its founder’s death.

The appointment marks the first major creative shakeup at Armani since the company’s creation in 1975.

Giorgio Armani continued to oversee design, styling and art direction across all of his businesses up until his death in September 2025. Longtime deputies, including womenswear chief Silvana Armani and Leo Dell’Orco on menswear, have since taken the reins of the company’s studios in a bid for continuity at the €2 billion business.

“Emporio was born as a space of freedom, experimentation and energy, and we are convinced that Dario’s arrival in our team, as a talent already established on the international stage, will interpret its spirit with respect and authenticity,” said Silvana Armani and Dell’Orco in a statement on Wednesday.

Vitale exited Versace after a single collection last December amid the brand’s acquisition by Prada Group. His kitschy, androgynous fits, joyful palette and layered-on styling offered a fresh angle on sexiness at Versace, establishing him as one of the most hotly watched voices in fashion.

The appointment gives Vitale another chance to prove himself as the creative leader of a major Italian brand. At Versace, he was the first designer to lead creative direction of the iconic brand other than its founder, Gianni Versace, and his sister Donatella Versace.

At Emporio Armani, Vitale will join a company navigating generational change as well as seismic shifts in the fashion market.

Emporio Armani was created in 1981 to offer a younger, more casual expression of the brand’s style. The brand sits below the main luxury line, Giorgio Armani, in the company’s fashion hierarchy and has a broader, more aspirational customer base, having absorbed several of the company’s mid-market lines including Armani Jeans and Armani Collezioni as part of a 2017 restructuring.

A greater reliance on entry-level merch and a distribution network that relied heavily on department stores and smaller multi-brand menswear shops have left it more exposed to the pressures facing the middle-tier of the fashion market in recent years, notably the decline of wholesale.

In recent years the company has sought to realign Emporio with Armani’s core values of laid-back elegance, tastefully renovating flagship stores and staging runway shows leaning into an on-brand lineup of relaxed tailoring in muted palettes of navy and greige.

But building momentum around a less-expensive “second line” without distracting from the main brand remains a challenge. Vitale’s arrival will offer a chance for Emporio Armani to hone a more distinctive, singular identity apart from the main Giorgio line.

Vitale spent 14 years working behind the scenes at Miu Miu, eventually becoming the label’s design and image director, before his brief, high-profile turn at Versace. His departure from Versace in December of last year came two days after Prada completed its €1.25 billion acquisition of the Italian fashion house.

Vitale’s appointment comes as Armani prepares to open its shareholding to an outside investor for the first time in the company’s history. Giorgio Armani’s will requires the foundation that controls the company to sell a 15 percent stake within 18 months of his death to LVMH, L’Oréal, EssilorLuxottica or another company of similar standing. The deadline falls in early March of next year. A further stake of between 30 percent and 54.9 percent is to be sold to the initial investor three to five years later, with an IPO also permitted if no suitable buyer emerges.