Pieter Mulier Named New Designer at Versace
Nytimes reports that Pieter Mulier, a Belgian designer who has been creative director at Alaïa for the past five years, was named chief creative officer at Versace and will assume the job on July 1. It is the first time in Versace’s 48-year history that its creative vision has been placed in the hands of someone born outside Italy.
The appointment followed Prada Group’s purchase of Versace and the abrupt departure of Dario Vitale, who had taken the house’s creative direction months earlier. Mr. Mulier stepped down from Alaïa in late January, and his final collection for the house will be presented in March.
Mr. Mulier spent much of his career working alongside Raf Simons at Christian Dior and Calvin Klein and studied architecture at the Institut Saint‑Luc in Brussels. At Alaïa he led a creative renewal that drew new retailers and Rihanna to his shows, helped popularize designs such as mesh ballet flats, and saw sales volume grow by about tenfold.
Belgium, Brussels