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Vitale, who was Versace\u2019s creative director for a single, critically beloved spring 2026 collection, was not unknown to the Prada Group, as he had been at Miu Miu<\/a> for more than 14 years. His departure from Miu Miu in January 2025 was perhaps seen as less than loyal. And the new owners wanted their own pick of creative director. \u201cThe stories that are around are quite public,\u201d Bertelli says. \u201cEven before Dario left [Miu Miu], we tried to somehow communicate to him to wait three or four months, to see where it could have ended up. He\u2019s ambitious. He made up his mind, there was nothing to do to stop him. I think at the end it was a successful journey for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Bad news and letting employees go is part of the job. \u201cIt\u2019s just business. It\u2019s much more difficult to talk about employees that are lower level in the organization of people. The biggest responsibility we have is the family of those thousands of people. But those managers on top, they will find another job.\u201d<\/p>\n When it was time to pick a successor, Prada Group\u2019s inner circle, including Bertelli and his parents, brainstormed, they looked at past shows, they talked to people close to Mulier. They talked to Donatella Versace, though Bertelli makes sure to note, \u201cShe was not involved with the choice.\u201d Nor was Prada\u2019s co\u2013creative director Raf Simons, though he had previously worked with Mulier at Calvin Klein<\/a>. What they wanted was someone with a clear idea of what Versace of today should look like and how to play with the boundaries of the identity of the brand. Bertelli finds rote sexuality, a flavor Versace is known for, \u201ca bit reductive.\u201d But he was attracted to the way Mulier played with sexiness at Ala\u00efa. \u201cOne of the reasons we chose him was because he knows how to work with the shapes of the body. You also need someone who can make a sellable product that people like to wear,\u201d Bertelli says, referring to Mulier\u2019s success with Ala\u00efa ballet flats and its oblong Le Teckel bag. Mulier starts in July, and his first show, his menswear collection, will be presented in January. \u201cWe need to be strategic with what kind of message we want to give people,\u201d Bertelli says.<\/p>\n Prada\u2019s rise from small-time leather goods company to global recognition roughly followed Bertelli\u2019s childhood\u2014he was born in 1988, and his mother showed her first women\u2019s ready-to-wear collection that year. Today, Prada Group is not just Prada and Miu Miu, but shoe companies Church\u2019s and Car Shoe, the sailing syndicate Luna Rossa, and most recently Versace, which it acquired for around $1.4 billion in December. It also includes the Milan pastry shop Marchesi 1824, from which there is an array of cornettos on offer at the company\u2019s offices in Milan, just next to its modern art museum, Fondazione Prada.<\/p>\n When he was in grade school, Bertelli remembers carrying a Prada nylon backpack with a mix of colors on it, much to his chagrin. \u201cI wanted the same backpack as everyone, the Eastpack, the Invicta,\u201d he says. He attended public schools his whole life, but people still knew who he was. \u201cIt was not so easy. But I mean, it is what it is. There was a perception of me before even knowing me. You have to learn how to cope with that and stay with your real friends. I learned very quickly who to trust and who not to trust,\u201d he says. He\u2019s well aware of current discourse around privilege. \u201cYou have advantages, you have pressure, especially when you\u2019re a kid so very young. The problem is how you manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n