Dario Vitale debuts as Versace creative director in ‘intimate’ event with VIPs and sex-charged looks

MILAN — Versace’s “intimate event” to launch Dario Vitale as the new creative director during Milan Fashion Week on Friday sprawled over two floors of a 17th-century palazzo and attracted hundreds of screaming Chinese pop star fans outside waving bunches of green and light blue balloons.

Vitale’s debut collection was a full-throttle return to the overtly sexualized Versace of the 1980s and 1990s — seen in the snug high-waisted jeans cinched as tightly as possible, the revealing open-sided T-shirts, the dresses left carelessly open in the back, and the joyous bursts of primary color.

The flamboyant energy of that decade was echoed in the show soundtrack of George Michael, Prince and Eurythmics.

Transition time

Vitale’s ascension at Versace marks a dramatic turn for the fashion house: He is only the third creative director after Gianni Versace, who was killed in 1997, and his sister Donatella Versace, who assumed the role after his death until Vitale took over April 1. Donatella Versace remains on as brand ambassador and welcomed the 41-year-old as a champion of young designers.

The change in creative leadership comes as the Prada Group is completing the purchase of Versace in a deal expected to be completed by the year’s end. Conveniently for the transition, Vitale most recently worked in the design house of Prada’s little sister brand, Miu Miu.

Taking the helm

If he was nervous about being the first nonfamily member to have creative reign at Versace, he didn’t show it as he held court with a gaggle of journalists backstage after the show.

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.”

Because of that familiarity, when he went to the archives, it was less about picking out pieces to reinterpret and more to find “the spirit” of the founder, Gianni Versace, he said.

As he began to rework Versace for this season, Vitale said he looked for ways to express sexiness, like the dress left completely open in the back expressing the moment just before it drops to the floor, or reinterpreting that everyday Italian uniform of an undershirt, shirt and sweater in a sexy way.

“What is sexy? We will never get enough, we will keep on trying,’’ he said.

The venue

The staging reinforced a sense of decadence: Inside the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana art gallery, the rooms were styled like the noble home in disarray, with silver set out to be polished, a dog bed tucked in a corner, a work computer was turned on and a bed left unmade, with Vitale’s own sheets. “I needed that little niche where I go to stay,” he said.

Even the invitation — a love letter quoting Keats — was more about seeking human contact than organizing an event, he said, which also drives his expression of sexuality in the collection.

“You know, to me, it’s not even the sex. It’s more the experience. It’s about the smell, it’s about the tactile aspect of it. It’s about the souvenir of the next day. It’s not even that moment,’’ he said.

VIP Guests

Outside, fans clogged the tiny streets around the art gallery venue, cheering especially Chinese actor Ding Yuxi and Chinese singer Jingyi Ju. Other A-listers decked out in Versace for the premiere event were Romeo Beckham, U.S. actor Lily McInerny, South Korean singer Hyunjin and the South Korean coed group AllDay Project.