A Sold-Out Versace Drop: What's the Secret Behind Dario Vitale Collection

On Tuesday, a collection by Dario Vitale was released for sale on the official Versace website. Almost all runway pieces are already sold out or available only in a few sizes. Over the past few years in luxury — excluding certain over-hyped collaborations — this is the first time we’ve seen something like this.

What’s the secret?

1) A fresh perspective and a renewed engagement with the brand codes.

Although the runway collection itself felt overwhelming to me — which I partly attribute to the possible designer’s desire to make a strong personal statement — it offered something fundamentally new compared to what we have seen from Versace for at least the past five years. And clearly, there is a client for it.

2) The runway sells.

Lately, runway collections have functioned more like a carrot in front of the donkey — khm — the client. What we see on the runway usually reaches stores in a heavily modified (simplified) form, while pieces that remain close to the original looks tend to drastically narrow the intended audience, with pricing acting as the main barrier. This collection which landed fully resembles the runway.

3) The pricing – was a pleasant surprise, even though it generally remains in line with previous seasons. The difference is that instead of endlessly exploiting the baroque print, it offers something genuinely new while still reading unmistakably as Versace.

Sold out are:

• almost all sizes for jeans with a provocative — and questionable — fit,

• and dresses priced at £13,000 and £15,000 (I assume the initial quantities were extremely limited).

Perhaps what surprised me most was the price of the leather dress — £2,410. From a surface comparison with the rest of the offer, it could easily have been priced at £2,800–2,900. Sold out as well.

e-Commerce nuances:

1) There are Fashion Show labels on both the collection and product pages — as I’ve said, the runway sells, so this is worth highlighting. I would, however, add one simple additional tactic to reinforce this argument.

2) Tops with very deep armholes remain largely untouched. Such pieces may generate excitement on the runway, but in an online store it’s important to acknowledge that — fortunately or not — very few women would actually take risk to wear it just like that. Alongside runway styling, the website should include more visuals with styling suggestions — for example, styling them with a top / bandeau bra underneath. Given that the brand has a lingerie line, this could function as an upsell while also helping to sell these more challenging tops.

Of course, the sold-out narrative should be taken with a grain of salt. We don’t know the original production quantities. I checked several retailers (though there are hardly many left). On Mytheresa the selection is much smaller and many sizes are already missing. NET-A-PORTER and Moda Operandi currently show no new arrivals at all (although the latter had a trunk show).