Strategic and systemic implications of Vitale’s appointment by Armani

The appointment of Dario Vitale as creative director of Emporio Armani’s menswear and womenswear lines and the group’s accessories – which had been rumoured before the summer but was officially confirmed a few hours ago by the holding company in Via Borgonuovo – comes at a particularly delicate time for the fashion industry, but also for the fashion house itself, one year on from the founder’s passing. Let’s start with the latter. A native of Salerno, aged forty-three, he previously worked at Bottega Veneta during Tomas Maier’s highly successful tenure, followed by fifteen years with the Prada Group until his appointment as director of image and prêt-à-porter at Miu Miu – the phenomenon of the last decade. Last year, as creative director, Vitale presented his first and only collection for Versace, which has already achieved cult status (in particular a bucket bag, the ‘Pivot’ model), despite lacklustre orders from buyers and what are known in English as ‘mixed reviews’, i.e. conflicting reviews.

At the time of Prada’s acquisition of Versace, when many expected that – given his long-standing professional relationship with Mrs Prada – the creative director would be retained, there came the surprise of his departure and the appointment of Pieter Mulier, formerly at the helm of Alaïa – a clear signal of the (hyper-feminine) direction Lorenzo Bertelli wishes to take with the first major brand to which he will apply what he has learnt and developed to date ‘en famille’. Vitale’s youthful, ironic yet at the same time clean and precise style, coupled with his razor-sharp eye for accessories, is exactly what Emporio – and indeed the whole group – needs; and, to be perfectly honest, this has been the case for some time now, as demonstrated by the expressions of enthusiasm for the appointment voiced by Leo Dell’Orco and Silvana Armani, the heirs of Giorgio Armani, who will remain in charge of the group’s menswear and womenswear styles respectively (“Emporio was founded as a space for freedom, experimentation and energy, and we are convinced that the arrival in our team of Dario, a talent who has already made a name for himself on the international scene, will capture its spirit with respect and authenticity”) and by CEO Giuseppe Marsocci, who emphasises “this important milestone for the group” – and one cannot help but agree with him, given that until now, no one other than Mr Armani and his closest associates – namely his family and a team of creatives who have been with the company for decades – had ever set foot in the creative department (in recent years, there were several discussions between the founder and Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was certainly the closest to him in terms of taste and style, but these never came to fruition).

In short, Vitale is the group’s first creative director from outside the organisation, and this alone is a positive sign for those backing the current management, even whilst the search for new partners continues. He is also the first to take a genuine interest in handbags and footwear. Originally established as a flagship brand for Italian clothing on a global scale, the Armani Group has in fact never managed to make its mark in the accessories sector, despite excellent growth in footwear in recent years; and even the brand’s most iconic handbag, ‘la Prima’, despite its elegance, has never joined the ranks of those accessories that have changed a company’s history – as has happened, for instance, at Saint Laurent (we’ll be writing about this shortly), at Gucci, Prada and Miu Miu. In an era where accessories sales account for up to 70–80 per cent of turnover – this was the figure at Gucci until Sabato De Sarno’s arrival – the current pressure on Demna is all directed towards this: being not ‘relevant’ enough, another fashion-world adjective, when it comes to shoes and handbags, means permanently jeopardising turnover; and without Mr Armani, the House of Armani cannot afford to underestimate this aspect: “I approach this new challenge with a deep sense of responsibility and enthusiasm, with the aim of building on these solid foundations and defining a new era together,” said Vitale, and there is no doubt that this is the case: in a few days’ time, the Emporio fashion show scheduled on the calendar will take the form of a presentation, whilst new directions will be openly discussed in January (a sign that Vitale has been working on the project for at least three months: the fashion cycle is a long one).

Surrounding his appointment, there is also a broader, systemic aspect, in which certain traditional media outlets and social media are beginning to have a say even in terms of strategy, offering, moreover, excellent advice – or at least suggestions based on the sort of common sense that many boards and CEOs are failing to demonstrate, accustomed as they are, for decades, to never questioning their own certainties and privileges, including through data and research that sometimes seem to have been commissioned specifically to maintain a status quo that is contradicted daily by the facts (in recent days, a minor row even broke out between trade associations over the 2026 turnover forecasts for the national fashion industry and a difference of three negative percentage points, namely between –2 and –5 per cent). The fashion industry needs new names – even those unknown to the general public but cherished by the industry – and it needs effective strategies that are consistent with this extremely difficult period, in which the spending power of the average consumer, and others besides, has become the decisive factor. If even the Armani fashion house has deemed it necessary to bring in a figure favoured by the international press and the so-called ‘fashion community’ to offer the market proof of its vitality – and this is no play on words – then the umpteenth round of gossip regarding the change at the top of Saint Laurent takes on a whole new meaning. Ten days ago, it was taken for granted that Anthony Vaccarello – who had been creative director of the Kering Group brand for a decade – would be leaving, and that he would be replaced by Chemena Kamali, the current creative director of Chloé.

Amidst the rumours and speculation, a spontaneous movement of protests has emerged on social media, which appears to have so far thwarted any initiative on the part of the Kering group. Some of the most active websites (usually anonymous, but no less effective for that – see boringnotcom) have even gone so far as to offer advice to Kering’s board itself, noting, for example, that at Saint Laurent the problem lies not so much with the creative direction – which remains highly regarded – as with the price positioning (shoes at 2,900 euros, roughly double that of Prada and even higher than Chanel and Hermès, exceed what any customer is willing to spend in an era where status is no longer expressed through spending power on luxury goods) and that the appointment of Kamali – whose management of Chloé has so far failed to yield stellar results – would do nothing to improve what is a misguided commercial policy and a strategic assessment out of step with the times.