Dario Vitale's Dualisms In The Domestic Setting Of Versace's Spring Summer 2026 Collection at Pinacoteca Ambrosiana

Versace staged its Spring Summer 2026 collection inside Milan’s Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the city’s oldest art museum and a 17th-century palazzo that once served as a private residence. The setting felt less like a show venue and more like a home—intimate and lived-in.

Across two floors of historic salons, set designer Andrea Faraguna transformed the museum into a dream of domestic life. Masterpieces as backdrop, while each room offered a glimpse into a narrative of a life lived: a dining table crowned with a champagne tower, mirrored corridors humming with reflection, bedrooms scattered with yellowing papers and magazines. At the center, in the Sala Della Medusa, a marble bust of the mythic figure presided—a reminder of Versace’s enduring emblem and the tension between beauty, danger, and power.

This mise-en-scène captured Dario Vitale’s evolving vision for the House: the dialogue between modernity and heritage, sensuality and intellect, generosity and restraint.

The atmosphere was shaped by a soundscape from Terraforma, the Milan-based collective known for bending sound and space into one. Voices drifted through the rooms; the hiss of radio static and the echo of footsteps gave way to a shifting mix of music curated with Car Culture (New York DJ Daniel Fisher, aka Physical Therapy). From Handel to Morricone, Prince to Laurie Anderson, Madonna to the Eurythmics—the playlist pulsed with movement and memory, tracing the same rhythm that runs through Versace itself: emotional, unpredictable, alive.

A Force Of Expression: Dario Vitale's Electric New Vision For The House Of Versace

Binx on a bike. Photographed by Stef Mitchell, 2025 Binx Walton, a model and artist, captured by Stef Mitchell. Renowned for her arresting and intimate portraits of independence and youth, connecting with the irreverent and youthful attitude of Versace.

This week, Chief Creative Officer Dario Vitale unveiled “Chapter One” of his new vision for the House of Versace, founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. Described as a “force of expression,” it connects the present with the brand’s historical DNA of unbridled creativity, with a clear path for the future. The project will take shape as a series of visual chapters, “fragments of people, places and emblems that embody its values.” Chapter One includes work from Camille Vivier, Steven Meisel, Eileen Myles, Collier Schorr and more. Photographs, poetry, art, music, and film, alongside objects from the Versace archive capture the house’s “uncompromising strength, rigour and sexuality” and a celebration of pure freedom. Click here to see more.

‘Untitled’. Illustrations by Collier Schorr, 2025 Collier Schorr, an artist and photographer, whose intimate portraits cast a confronting lens on the subjects of her work, responding to the intimacy and sexuality that defines the House with a series of original illustrations.