The fashion industry’s worst-kept secret came out on Thursday.

Barneys New York said Mark Lee, its dapper 53-year-old chief executive, “has retired.”

Lee’s heir apparent, Daniella Vitale, the upscale retailer’s chief operating officer, has succeeded him, the company said.

Rumors that Lee would be stepping down from the helm of the swanky chain had bubbled around the fringes of Seventh Avenue since last summer.

A former head of Gucci, Lee had been CEO of Barneys since 2010, when he rose to the top in a shakeup that saw fashion wag Simon Doonan, the retailer’s longtime creative director, hit the exit door.

On Thursday, Lee was named executive chairman of the luxury specialty store by Richard Perry, the hedge-fund mogul who took control of Barneys and engineered Lee’s ascent.

“In 2012 we put in a formal succession plan for Daniella to become CEO in 2017,” Perry said in a statement.

Lee said he stayed on as CEO two years longer than he’d expected to. When he joined Barneys he recruited Vitale, his longtime Gucci colleague.

In September, Perry announced that his hedge fund, Perry Capital, would be closing. He is said to be looking to sell a minority stake in Barneys.

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