Emmanuel Gintzburger is out. Effective June 23, the CEO of Versace since September 2022 has stepped down. No replacement has been named. The house says governance details will follow “in due course.”
That phrase is doing a lot of work right now.
Prada Group acquired Versace from Capri Holdings in late 2025 for €1.25 billion. Since then, the pace of change at the house has been relentless. Lorenzo Bertelli, son of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli, was installed as executive chairman almost immediately. On July 1, Pieter Muller takes over as head of design. And now the CEO is gone before the first full collection under new creative leadership has even been shown.
This is not a restructuring. This is a full rebuild, happening in public, in real time.
Gintzburger’s tenure began under Capri Holdings, a different owner with a different set of priorities. His exit is not surprising in that context, incoming ownership groups rarely keep the executive infrastructure they inherit, especially when the acquisition signals a genuine strategic repositioning rather than a simple ownership transfer. Prada did not spend €1.25 billion to manage Versace as it was. They bought it to make it something else.
The real signal here is the sequence. Bertelli in the chair. Muller on the creative side starting next week. The CEO seat now empty. Prada is not easing into this. They are clearing the deck fast and building their own team from scratch.
That approach carries risk. Versace is a house with a specific identity, maximalism, sexuality, power dressing, a DNA that is recognisable globally and difficult to handle. It has also struggled commercially in recent years, which is partly what made the Capri Holdings sale possible. Prada is betting that the brand’s iconicity is an asset they can activate correctly, where previous ownership could not.
Whether that bet pays off depends on what comes next. Muller’s appointment as design lead is the first real creative statement of this new era. His background and direction will say more about Prada’s intentions for Versace than any press release.
But the speed of this restructuring is itself a statement. Prada is not interested in gradual. They are building for a specific outcome, and they are moving as if they already know exactly what that outcome is.
The fashion industry will find out soon enough.
Versace has confirmed that details on the new governance structure will be announced at a later date. Pieter Muller begins his role as head of design on July 1.
