Dario Vitale Joins Armani as Creative Director of Emporio Armani
Dario Vitale has been appointed creative director of Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani’s accessories line, marking a significant new chapter for the Italian fashion group. The appointment makes Vitale the first designer from outside the Armani family to assume a creative leadership role within the company.
Effective immediately, Vitale will oversee the creative direction of both areas. The upcoming Emporio Armani Spring 2027 men’s and women’s collections, however, were designed by Silvana Armani and Leo Dell’Orco and will be presented at Armani/Teatro on September 24 in a presentation format rather than a traditional runway show.
Vitale arrives at Armani after a closely watched period in his career. He left Versace in December 2025 after just one collection, following his appointment as creative director in March of that year. His debut, presented in September 2025, marked the first time a designer outside the Versace family had led the house’s creative direction.
Before Versace, Vitale spent 15 years at Miu Miu, where he served as ready-to-wear design director and played a central role in the brand’s development. He left the company in January 2025. Born in 1983, Vitale studied at Istituto Marangoni and began his career working with Tomas Maier at Bottega Veneta.
His arrival comes at a pivotal moment for Armani following the death of Giorgio Armani. Leo Dell’Orco, Armani’s longtime collaborator, was appointed head of the group’s menswear division and chairman of its board, while Silvana Armani assumed creative responsibility for the women’s collections.
Silvana Armani and Dell’Orco described Emporio Armani as a space historically defined by freedom, experimentation, and energy, expressing their confidence that Vitale would interpret those values while bringing his own perspective to the brand.
For Vitale, the appointment represents an opportunity to work within one of Italian fashion’s most established creative legacies. “Armani possesses a powerful heritage and an unmistakable design language,” he said. “I approach this with a deep sense of responsibility and enthusiasm as we build on that rich foundation and define a new era together.”
The dual appointment also expands Vitale’s role beyond a single fashion label. At Emporio Armani, he will inherit a brand whose identity has long been associated with accessible sophistication, youthful energy, and a more experimental interpretation of Armani’s design philosophy. At Giorgio Armani, his remit extends into accessories, placing him within one of the group’s most visible categories.
Vitale’s next major test will be translating that experience into Armani’s established vocabulary without simply reproducing its past. His arrival signals a generational shift in the creative structure of the group—one that places a designer with a strong contemporary track record inside the house Giorgio Armani built.
