The Versace blazer and jeans that Julia Roberts wore during the Venice Film Festival — evoking consternation online about its new chief creative officer Dario Vitali — was probably no fluke.
“I’ve never really been interested in fantasy. I’m much more interested in reality,” Vitale declared during an interview Friday, roughly eight hours before his debut show.
Speaking about his first collection for the storied Italian house, he said he “wanted to make a statement on something that is very casual…I wanted to start with something that was closer to people and relevant.
“I’m very obsessed with products,” he added.
Of all the designer debuts this Milan season, Vitale’s may end up being the most daring — and divisive.
If your idea of Versace is red-carpet showstoppers, there were none stalking the runway Friday night at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana museum, whose vast collection of art includes a Medusa bust.
Vitale’s Versace — his first show at least, for he said gowns might appear later in other contexts — skewed more East Village disco than Met Gala, transposing Versace’s reputation for color, audaciousness and sex appeal into more everyday garments like T-shirts, sweaters, blousons, vests and jeans — all with an unabashed retro brio.
Emblematic of his more down-to-earth approach, he referenced the Warhol-inspired prints of Marilyn Monroe from Versace’s seminal spring 1991 collection, but his hand-painted faces are not famous ones — even if they bear a fleeting resemblance to Jackie O, Sophia Loren or Rudolph Valentino.
Likewise, Vitale deals with sexy in an upfront way, carving away T-shirts until they’re more akin to muscle tanks or a tabard — and sometimes leaving the button flies of jeans sagging open.
Indeed, there were so many jeans, hiked as high as possible to be tight on the crotch, you might think you were at a Versace Jeans show — or cruising through The Castro — circa 1985. The collection had a strong streetwear sensibility and a thrift-shop patina that might confound Versace’s longstanding clientele.
Donatella Versace, who lead the creative charge for 28 years following the death of her beloved brother Gianni, carried the torch for a polished, fierce brand of glamor very different from what Vitale paraded. (Named chief brand ambassador of the fashion house after the handover to Vitale, she did not attend the show Friday night.)
Previously Miu Miu’s ready-to-wear design director, Vitale said he challenged himself to embrace vivid colors, bold patterns — and all that the vast legacy of the Versace house has to offer — but done his way.
A soft-spoken, articulate young man with strong opinions, Vitale nevertheless acknowledged that “there is a lot to study” at Versace, a pillar of pop culture. “It’s really like Coca-Cola or Andy Warhol. It’s something that belongs to everybody, and everybody thinks they know Versace.”
Vitale dug deep, visiting the founder’s homes in Milan and Miami, poring over his art collection and even his hand-written correspondence to folks like Richard Avedon, and drawing new conclusions of his own. “I think sometimes you get to know a person more from his stationery than from a dress,” the designer mused.
To be sure, Vitale proved himself a formidable storyteller, scattering what was once a grand private residence with the detritus of an all-night bender: an unmade bed, makeup-stained cotton pads, and Versace clothes casually tossed here and there. George Michael and Prince were blaring from the speakers.
“When it comes to Versace, I always think that those people, they want to dance and to sweat and to have fun,” Vitale said during the preview. “In order to do that, you need to have a look that fits right. For me, a beautiful pair of striped jeans and a fully embroidered leather vest that cost a million dollar is even better.”
Everyone’s fantasy is different.