Armani names Dario Vitale creative director of Emporio Armani and its accessories line — the first outsider to hold the post
Giorgio Armani Group has handed creative control of Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani Accessories to a designer from outside the family for the first time in the house's history, putting Dario Vitale in charge of what reaches Armani's Japan floors — the Ginza Tower flagship and department-store concessions among them — just as the group's restaurant and residence projects expand across the country.
Giorgio Armani Group named Dario Vitale creative director of Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani Accessories, effective immediately, the company said in an announcement dated 16 September — the first time either post has gone to a designer from outside the Armani family.
I am honored to take on this dual role across Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani, and deeply grateful to Silvana and Leo for welcoming me into their world.
Design heads Silvana Armani and Leo Dell'Orco, and chief executive Giuseppe Marsocci, also commented on the appointment in the release, according to the company, which described Vitale as bringing significant experience in the fashion industry without detailing his previous roles.
Emporio Armani's mainline collections and the Giorgio Armani accessories business are two of the group's widest-reaching lines in Japan, running through the Armani/Ginza Tower flagship and Emporio Armani concessions inside department stores nationwide — floors that, as of this appointment, take their creative direction from a single outside designer rather than the family for the first time in the label's history. The change lands as Armani's Japan footprint is expanding on other fronts too: floortok has reported this month on the group's restaurant arm opening a new Tohoku dining concept in Iwate and on a Kyoto residence project furnished by Armani/Casa. What Vitale puts on those Japan floors next season, rather than the family, is the thing to watch for how far the reset actually reaches.