It’s official: Pieter Mulier is the new creative director of Versace. The news was announced in a statement this afternoon (February 5), on the Italian label’s Instagram page. “Versace and Prada Group announce the appointment of Pieter Mulier as chief creative officer, effective July 1, 2026. This choice marks the beginning of a new chapter for the brand.”

Today’s news comes less than a week after the announcement that Mulier would be leaving his role as creative director of Alaïa after five years at the helm. The announcement also follows a turbulent year for Italy’s most famous fashion brand. In March last year, Donatella Versace gave up her creative director title after 27 years, transitioning to a “brand ambassador” role.

Her departure was announced alongside the immediate appointment of Dario Vitale, a former Miu Miu design director with years of industry pedigree. Less than a month later, Versace announced that the Prada Group – Vitale’s former employers at Miu Miu – would be purchasing the label for £1.04bn. Vitale presented his new vision for Versace in September, and despite the collection’s apparent success, the designer left the brand on December 4, just one day after the Versace-Prada merger was finalised.

During his time at Alaïa, Mulier was credited with breathing new life into the Tunisian label, and Mulier’s directional designs found fans in Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Taylor Russell. Before joining the brand, Mulier began his career interning for Raf Simons in 2002. Though he had no formal design experience – having studied architecture at Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels – Mulier quickly rose to Simons’ head designer by 2003. He remained as head of menswear collections at Raf Simons until 2010, and simultaneously worked alongside Simons at Jil Sander where he was also creative director until 2012.

Simons’ eternal right-hand-man, Mulier then followed his fellow Belgian to Dior in April 2012, and later to Calvin Klein in August 2016. In 2021, Mulier became the first creative director to take the reins at Alaïa since Azzedine Alaïa’s death in 2017. And with Simons now currently working as co-creative director of Prada, many have speculated that Mulier’s appointment at the Prada-owned Versace could be thanks to the influence of Simons (along with his own fashion chops, of course).