Pieter Mulier’s arrival at Versace signals a reset for the Italian luxury house
Thursday’s announcement that Pieter Mulier will become chief creative officer of Versace confirms what fashion circles had been whispering for months. The Prada Group and Versace jointly confirmed the appointment, positioning the Belgian designer at the creative helm of one of fashion’s most iconic names as it enters a new chapter under Italian ownership.
Mulier arrives with a resume both deep and directional. A Brussels-educated architect turned designer, he was discovered by Raf Simons in 2003 and went on to work closely with him across Jil Sander, Dior, and Calvin Klein, eventually becoming creative director at Calvin Klein when Simons became chief creative officer there. After that foundational period, he took on Alaïa in 2021, the first creative director the storied Paris house had named since its founder’s death, and over five years earned acclaim for reinvigorating the brand while staying respectful to its historic codes.
Vitale's fleeting tenure
Versace steps into this moment with plenty of potential, and plenty of unfinished business. The brand’s last season under Dario Vitale was widely praised, but Vitale’s tenure proved fleeting, ending soon after the Prada acquisition was finalised in late 2025. Under its previous American owners Capri Holdings, Versace had struggled to articulate a clear luxury identity amid declining sales.
Mulier’s task isn’t just to make pretty clothes, it’s to define what Versace stands for in 2026 and beyond. That means reconciling the house’s flamboyant DNA, the glamour, the bold prints, the heritage codes that make “Versace” a word even non-fashion people know, with the market realities of today’s luxury consumer. Years of quiet luxury have conditioned audiences to expect nuance and individuality; Versace’s high-octane glamour can answer that hunger, but it needs a coherent voice to do so.
In his time at Alaïa, Mulier showed he can balance respect for a brand’s storied past with the cultural currency younger audiences crave, be it through strong accessories, sculptural silhouettes or pieces that become moment makers in their own right. That sensitivity will be crucial at Versace, where accessories and non-red-carpet ready-to-wear have historically played second fiddle to star moments. There’s fertile ground here, from refining sporty luxury to redefining the brand’s handbag and shoes categories, all while keeping Versace’s inherent bravado front and centre.
Equally intriguing is the constellation of relationships around this appointment. With Raf Simons now a co-creative director at Prada, the Mulier-Simons lineage inevitably invites speculation about creative dialogue across the group’s houses, a dynamic that could be as consequential in shaping Prada Group’s broader aesthetic strategy as any single runway.
Ultimately, the question isn’t whether Pieter Mulier can “design” for Versace, it’s whether he can steward it: turning its mythic glamour into a sustainable, forward-thinking luxury narrative that resonates in Milan, New York, Seoul and beyond. On paper, the fit makes sense; in practice, what comes next will tell us whether this is a renaissance for Versace, or merely a new chapter in its long and storied story.