Versace CEO Emmanuel Gintzburger has exited the brand, Versace confirmed on Wednesday. A successor has not yet been named.
Gintzburger, who was in the role from 2022, led Versace through its 2025 acquisition by the Prada Group from Capri Holdings. He then appointed Pieter Mulier as Versace’s new creative director in February 2026, following Dario Vitale’s exit announcement. The hire came just after the acquisition was complete. Vitale was at the helm for only one year, having joined the brand after Donatella Versace stepped into the role of chief brand ambassador. Mulier will start at the brand on July 1.
Prada Group confirmed the exit was Gintzburger’s decision. “The company confirms the resignation of Emmanuel Gintzburger as chief executive officer of Versace, effective from June 23. Information about the new governance will be announced in due course,” the company said in a statement.
Gintzburger joined Versace from Alexander McQueen, where he was CEO for six years. Before that, he worked in executive positions at Saint Laurent, Lanvin, and Sephora. At Versace, the CEO focused on steering a turnaround via strengthening the brand’s core categories (womenswear and menswear) by drilling down on house codes, with a keen focus on accessories and footwear.
At the time of the acquisition, some analysts hoped that Gintzburger would stay on board. “Ideally, Donatella Versace needs to be retained along with Emmanuel Gintzburger, and Versace needs to be given the artistic freedom to do its own thing,” Neil Saunders, managing director of Globaldata’s US retail division, said at the time.
Back in December, Lorenzo Bertelli, chief marketing officer and the head of corporate social responsibility at Prada Group, was named executive chair of Versace. In March, during Prada Group’s fiscal 2025 earnings call, Bertelli said that the brand’s turnaround “won’t be an overnight task”, but that he was excited about the potential of the brand as well as its place in the Prada Group portfolio.
The company is currently in the midst of steering its two initial turnaround pillars. The first is to “continue to assess the current collection and product lines, to identify areas of improvement in terms of quality and structure”, Bertelli said in March. The second will focus on channels and distribution, brand positioning, and moving toward quality full-price sales.
As tends to be the case when a new creative director is installed, there have been some other exits. Earlier this week, for instance, Versace’s global communications director, Eloise Hautcoeur, exited her role to start as global communications director at Loewe.
Ahead of Mulier’s February 2027 debut, the intention is that the new creative and business management line-up, including Bertelli and the next chief executive, will work together to steer Versace’s new era.