The Versace Brand – Overcoming The Past – Looks To The Future

The Beginning of a High Fashion Designer

Gianni Versace, usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion categorize founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan’s Via della Spiga in 1978, (though the Versace family are from Reggio Calabria) and its popularity was immediate. Mr. Versace was born in 1946 and lived to age 50.

Today, Versace is one of the world’s leading international fashion houses. Versace designs, markets and distributes luxury clothing, accessories, fragrances, makeup and home furnishings under the various brands of the Versace Group. In 1994, the brand became a household name with the widespread coverage of the Black Versace dress of Elizabeth Hurley.

Versace Couture, which contains high-end, often handmade apparel, jewelry, watches, fragrances, cosmetics, handbags, shoes, and home furnishings, is the house’s main line. Traditionally, this is the only line presented on the runway, which is shown all through Milan’s fashion week, but this has not been strictly the case in contemporary years. Couture dresses in this line may cost about $10,000 and suits cost approximately $5,000. Donatella Versace directly heads this line and designs a vast amount of the items.

Growth of Versace

As his success continued to grow, Versace started establishing boutiques throughout the United States with the help of his family. He also focused on publishing a series of coffee-table books that featured his sketches and photographs of his creations by esteemed photographers such as Richard Avedon, who also worked on Versace’s advertising campaigns. Versace’s interest in the new and daring continued to flourish, and in 1989 he designed a line of haute couture for the first time.

In 1989 Versace produced costumes for the San Francisco Opera; a fantastic enthusiast of the opera and ballet, Versace explored costume design as a side interest throughout his career. In 1993 Versace was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the inner ear. He battled this cancer successfully and then started to pass much of his business responsibilities onto his family.

Maturity of Versace

The other Versace categorize named Versace Collection is the second high-end line of the group and is designed toward younger more fashioned people, the logo is discreet and consist in a hollowed V surrounded by the classic Greek frieze or is signed in all word with the word “collection” written smaller in black at the bottom line of the name Versace in hollowed letters or in white.

Unfortunately Mr. Versace was shot to death in 1997, his sister, Donatella now works meticulously to build the brand and keep the creative vision alive at Versace.

The Present

The company, based in Milan, is fully owned by the Versace family: Allegra Beck Versace, Donatella’s daughter, owns 50 percent; Santo Versace, Donatella’s brother, owns 30 percent; and Donatella owns 20 percent.

Ms. Versace started working with her brother Gianni in the mid-1970s. Her brother was shot to death on July 15, 1997, outside his Miami home, and she has been designer of the Versace categorize for more than a decade.

At current fashion shows, the reports go on as a well-known brand re-emerges: “This Viva Versace! Show in Milan’s brief fashion season started with a surprise: long coats that were worn over ulra-small shiny skirts, and elongated dresses with a zipper undone in order for one leg to stride. Another opening-up trick was to cut away the back, leaving it entirely naked. Whether it was the rear view of a mauve fur vest or a cut-away evening gown, it was like reading a memory stick of the infamous Versace safety-pin dress just holding decency together.”

How successfully Versace will ride out the current crisis is a matter not only of how well its restructuring works but also of how balanced its offerings are “from a price point of view,” Mr. Frasch said. Like its competitors, Versace will have to pull off the hat trick of retaining its luxury aura while attracting new consumers with more affordable goods. “Versace always serviced a much broader range of consumers than people would judge,” Mr. Frasch said. “And it remains a very valid brand.”