Hello, and welcome back to Line Sheet. I had the nicest lunch with Plum Sykes yesterday. I love tall women. Subscribe to her newsletter.

In today’s issue, exclusif to Inner Circle members (we are clubby), I had a ball going through all of ex-Versace designer Dario Vitale’s myriad job scenarios and sharing my opinion on what he should—and shouldn’t—do. (I am not a licensed human resources professional.) Up top, I share some informed speculation of another sort: Where is Stefano Cantino really going? Does anyone care where Carven designer Mark Thomas ends up? Plus, Sarah “SShapiro@puck.news” Shapiro has some new resale market stats that prove the secondhand market isn’t only threatening luxury, but cheap-chic fashion, too.

By the way, the Chanel craze is still going strong. Tomorrow on Fashion People, my guest is Chanel expert and blogger-influencer-V.I.C. Bryanboy, who has thoughts on why it’s working and what it says about the state of luxury. We also discuss broader industry issues, like whether the online army complaining about handbag “quality” is worthy of attention. Remember that Bryan was my Villain of the Year in 2025. (It’s funny, looking back, that he was the villain and Chanel C.E.O. Leena Nair was the hero; in the end, she gave him what he wanted.) I always love chatting with him about this stuff. Listen here and here.

And for those of you with the Shoppies, many folks asked for links to all the stuff Marisa Meltzer and I discussed in Tuesday’s episode, “Cigarette Wishes & Charvet Dreams.” Thanks to Puck’s Maya Tribbitt for sourcing it all: Charvet shirts, slippers, socks, and braided belts; Yohji jackets; Raf Simons x Kvadrat; Nordic Knots rugs; Bonpoint balm; and Kvadrat fabric for upholstering.

Also mentioned in this issue: Melania Trump, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Pieter Mulier, Nigo, the Arnaults, Love Story, the Prada–Bertelli clan, Hedi Slimane, Louise Trotter, Veronica Leoni, Amy Astley, Carol Lim, Emmanuel Gintzburger, Philippe Fortunato, a “Nineties Edit,” Stefan Larsson, Onitsuka Tiger, Hanya Yanagihara, Humberto Leon, shipping containers, Ryan Murphy, Naomi Fry, and more…

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And now, on to the main event…

On Thursday, a remnant of Dario Vitale’s brief but wondrous stint at Versace—a collaboration with Onitsuka Tiger on a pair of $750, low-vamp sneakers—went up for sale, complete with a custom advertising campaign. In many ways, the shoe already seemed like a relic of a bygone era. Soon enough, the look and feel of Versace will change under Pieter Mulier, the handpicked choice of the conquering Prada–Bertelli clan, which closed on its $1.4 billion acquisition of the company in December.

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Vitale, who has remained active on social media throughout his garden leave, will undoubtedly get a chance to make his mark elsewhere. He was, of course, long viewed as a rising star before he became one at Versace, and was at various points considered for jobs at LVMH, Kering, and elsewhere. But the industry is currently entering a period of stasis: The Great Creative Director Swap is behind us, and the newish heads of the major European houses will spend the next couple of years attempting to show their worth. Vitale now has a proof of concept, and increased leverage, but there aren’t many obvious vacancies in the market.

An early spring trip to New York had plenty of people speculating that Vitale met with Calvin Klein, whose current creative director, Veronica Leoni, has been repeatedly dragged in the press. After all, his Versace mined the early 1980s, when Calvin Klein jeans dominated the market, for inspiration. But the truth is that PVH, which owns Calvin Klein, doesn’t need Leoni to sell clothes but simply to market them; the real business is primarily licensed product. Meanwhile, as PVH C.E.O. Stefan Larsson recently acknowledged in an interview, the brand has experienced a lift from the Ryan Murphy series Love Story, which partially takes place in the Calvin Klein offices during its heyday in the ’90s. Larsson promised that the brand will continue to capitalize on the hype as the year goes on—there is currently a “Nineties Edit” featured on the site. Anyway, this tactic may delay PVH from making a change just as much as it might dissuade Vitale from wanting to work at a licensing business. (Also, Vitale would have to move to New York, where nobody wants to live right now.) Seems like a dead end.

One obvious, more promising option is Richemont-owned Alaïa, where Mulier just celebrated his final day—thereby creating the possibility of a truly symmetrical role reversal in which each man would succeed the other. On the surface, and somewhat ironically, Vitale and Mulier couldn’t be more different. But they share many of the same references: an interest in sexy fashion and (most importantly) the ability to design “It” items. A former shoe designer, Mulier is behind inarguably the most-copied accessories of the last half-decade: the Mary Jane ballet flat and Teckel bag. Whoever replaces him will need to maintain momentum as interest in the Mary Jane wanes. Vitale could be that person. In one season, he created a new sneaker, a walkable take on the 1980s pump that’s currently proliferating in the market, and a throwback bucket bag snagged fast by fashion insiders.

However, it sounds like Richemont’s Philippe Fortunato, who runs the group’s diminutive fashion and accessories division, is not in a rush to name Mulier’s replacement. The group has made a big investment in Alaïa—creating a new studio for Mulier, etcetera—but there is no extreme pressure to be profitable.

Vitale’s best option may actually be to sit tight until the right thing opens up. LVMH has no major creative director positions available at the moment, but that could change in the next year or so. He would be ideal to revive Kenzo, which is not working creatively under Nigo (a truly talented multihyphenate who is just not right for the role). The Arnaults seem to want to keep Kenzo in the portfolio because of the fragrance business, which was lifted by Opening Ceremony founders Carol Lim and Humberto Leon in the early 2010s but has waned culturally ever since. Vitale has the right sense of color and print to give the brand some life.

Also, despite all the palace intrigue, paranoia, pressure, and Game of Thrones–style corporate culture, the past few months have proven that LVMH is best-in-class at managing its brands and taking care of talent when times are tough. Just look at the company’s 20-year relationship with Hedi Slimane, who I suspect will return to the LVMH fold someday. Or Maria Grazia Chiuri, who is settling in well at Fendi, where her devoted clients are clamoring to preorder her first collection. Right now, LVMH appears determined to make all of its active brands, big and small, more desirable, even as the consumer’s definition of desirable changes before our eyes. Vitale could certainly help them figure it out.

The C.E.O. of one of Kering’s jewelry brands, DoDo, is leaving. [BoF]

Saks Global is getting closer to exiting its restructuring with $500 million in exit financing secured. [Press Release]

LVMH shares fell 28 percent in the first quarter of 2026, the biggest drop in the stock’s history. Q1 results hit April 13. We can’t wait to hear how it’s going! [Bloomberg]

Maison Margiela’s Shanghai show, staged in front of a backdrop of stacked shipping containers, merged the ready-to-wear and Artisanal (couture-level) collections. It must have been amazing in person. The house’s whole China initiative, which kicked off with the show—followed by 12 days of events across four cities, including a Tabi exhibition in Chengdu and a masks exhibition in Beijing—is quite the branding and marketing exercise. I hope someone does a deep dive on it. [NSS and the hyperbolic, but hopefully not too hyperbolic, Vogue Runway review]

Naomi Fry bought a Bottega bag on The RealReal. [How Long Gone]

Melania Trump repeated an outfit from 2017 at last night’s opening of Chicago at the Kennedy Center. [Vanity Fair]

And finally… In my latest report on succession at T, I said that rehearsals were starting in May for a London staging of the play based on current editor-in-chief Hanya Yanagihara’s hit novel A Little Life. I was wrong. The rehearsals are for a new, original play written by Yanagihara, which will debut in January 2027. Thank you to everyone who is following this story as closely as I am (more than you’d think), and also to the person who anonymously nominated Amy Astley for the job. Amy is great, but Architectural Digest is actually very successful, and she almost certainly makes more money there than she would at the Times, so not sure she’d want to bother leaving at this point. Keep me posted!

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

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