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Versace

Type	Private
Industry	Consumer Goods
Founded	2000
Headquarters	Milan, Italy
Key people	Gianni Versace, Founder Santo Versace, Chairman & Co-CEO Gian Giacomo Ferraris, Director & Co-CEO Donatella Versace, Artistic Director
Products	Textile - Apparel [1]
Revenue	€ 340.2 million (2011)
Employees	500
Website	versace.com

Gianni Versace S.p.A. (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒanni verˈsaːʧe]), usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion company and trade name founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.

The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 2000, (though the Versace family are from Reggio Calabria) and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses. Versace designs, markets, and distributes luxury clothing, accessories, makeup, and home furnishings under the various brands of the Versace Group. In 1994, the brand became a household name after the widespread coverage of the Black Versace dress of Elizabeth Hurley.^[1]

Gianni Versace was killed by Andrew Cunanan on July 15, 1997.^[2] His sister Donatella Versace, formerly vice-president, then stepped in as creative director of Versace and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO. Donatella's daughter Allegra Versace also owns 50 percent of the company since 2004 as wished by Gianni in his last will. Allegra also has the last say of the sale and other important details in the Versace clothing line.^[3]

After the corporate crisis of 2001-2002, in 2003 Fabio Massimo Cacciatori started the restoration. Since 2004 Giancarlo Dirisio, from IT Holding, has been CEO of the group. In July 2009 Giangiacomo Ferraris, from Jil Sander Group, was appointed the new CEO.

Versace's Style Department employs a group of designers and stylists who work in teams. Each team is specifically dedicated to each fashion line or label. These teams operate under the close supervision and guidance of Donatella Versace.

Versace lines[edit]

Some designs from the Fall-Winter 2007 Versace collection.

There are several lines that make up Versace: Atelier Versace, Versace Couture, Versace Sports, Versace Home Collection, Versace Jeans Couture, Versace Collection, Young Versace and Versus. In addition to clothing and accessories, it also operates a hotel, the Palazzo Versace. Palazzo Versace, opened in September 2000 in the Australian Gold Coast, is the first to be branded by an international luxury goods company. A Palazzo Versace is currently under development in Dubai scheduled to open in late 2013. On June 25, 2010, Versace announced the launch of Damac Towers interior design by Versace Home in downtown Beirut.^{[citation needed]}

Versace Couture, which contains high-end, often handmade apparel, jewelry, watches, fragrances, cosmetics, handbags, and home furnishings, is the house's main line. Traditionally, this is the only line presented on the runway which is shown during Milan's fashion week, but this has not been strictly the case in recent 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.^{[citation needed]}

The other Versace label named Versace Collection,^[4] and again overseen by Donatella Versace, 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. The Versace Sport line was stopped in 2008 due to large counterfacting of this line, damaging the Versace group image.^{[citation needed]}

Versace Jeans Couture, now renamed Versace Jeans, a casual clothing line, focuses on informal clothing and high-end denim and classic Versace print shirts. It is readily available and comparably affordable, but has been discontinued from the United States for the most part. This line is distributed through 56 boutiques and flagship stores, and 1800 multi-brand points of sale, including Internet-based shops. Versace Sport encompassed active wear and accessories. The name was often printed on t-shirts.^[5]

Gallery of Selected Past Designs[edit]

• 

  A Gianni Versace design in characteristic bold colours

• 

  A Versace corset top, similar to the controversial leather bondage-theme dresses made by Versace during the early 1990s.

• 

  A Gianni Versace design on display at a Florence, Italy museum in 2007.

Versace eyeglasses Versace eyeglasses are part of the Versace collection and manufactured under license by the Luxottica group

Versace going public[edit]

In May 2006, it was reported in WWD that Versace chief executive Giancarlo Di Risio said Versace Group would consider an IPO (initial public offering) on the stock market by next year, ahead of a proposed schedule. This was due to a drop in operating losses from £62m to £4m for 2005, based on sales for the House during the prior 12 months.

Faces of Versace and celebrity culture[edit]

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Versace has many fans among well-known celebrities. Elton John has long been a wearer of Versace, often featuring custom items covered in diamonds or Swarovski crystals. Other notable fans of the Versace fashion house are Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G, Carlos Coy, Elizabeth Hurley, Axl Rose, Beyoncé and Princess Diana, who was offered, but declined, £1,000,000 to appear on the catwalk in Versace to celebrate her divorce from Prince Charles.^{[citation needed]} Jennifer Lopez is known to often wear Versace on the red carpet. Her revealing green chiffon dress at the 42nd Grammy Awards ceremony on February 23, 2000 became one of the most widely publicised and talked-about red carpet dresses of the decade.^[6] Lady Gaga is known to be a fan of Versace, especially vintage Versace. In her 'The Edge of Glory' music video, she is adorned in Gianni Versace's final collection and in 2011 promised to wear only Versace for 2 months. She cites Gianni and Donnatella Versace as major influences on her. Beyoncé Knowles is also another Pop icon who has worn Versace to many events and attracted wide publicity. In 2005, Knowles wore a black silk velvet strapless “Siren” gown by Versace to the Academy Awards which has been citied by many as one of her most "Sexiest" red carpet appearances.^[7] In 2007, Knowles wore a one of a kind sparkling silver Versace dress during her 2007 world tour, The Beyoncé Experience. Other notable appearances, Knowles has made in Versace include a Super tight silver gown to the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, A diamond encrusted figure hugging grown to the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and a leather mini Atelier Versace dress with a metallic enriched bustier which she wore during her performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards.^[8]

Versace is unique among Italian fashion houses due to its frequent use of a celebrity "face" for the House in advertisements. The contract provides for the use of the celebrity's image, and in return, the celebrity is paid both monetarily and with free Versace clothing. Madonna, for example, was paid $10.5m and given free Versace clothes for 2 years for her contribution to Versace advertising campaign in 2005.

Some of the celebrities that have been the face "for Versace" are Madonna (1995 and 2005), Ashton Kutcher, Ian Somerhalder, Kevin Richardson, Demi Moore, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Lil' Kim appeared prominently in fashion shows and editorial advertisements for the brand. During the summer of 2003, The Corrs—who were then recording and promoting their fourth studio album—signed a contract to become the face of Versace for 5 years, Milla Jovovich for ad campaigns and Halle Berry was the face of Versace for Spring/Summer 2006. The current celebrity face of Versace is January Jones, actress.

Versace used the models Carolyn Murphy, Milla Jovovich, Angela Lindvall, Daria Werbowy, Miriam Escott IV, Christy Turlington, Gisele Bündchen and Kate Moss to front the Fall/Winter 2006/7 campaign, and used actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the face for the men's campaign. The 2008 Spring/Summer campaign featured Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey as the face of its men's line and Gisele Bündchen for the women's line. The line has also used models like Isabeli Fontana, Maryna Linchuk, Natalia Vodianova, Mariacarla Boscono, Karlie Kloss, and Catherine McNeil and of course, Versace will always be remembered for the use of legendary supermodels, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Helena Christensen among others.

Versace boutiques[edit]

The Versace boutique in Milan, Italy

Fifth Avenue, New York City

There are currently 82 boutiques in the world:

The first to be opened outside of Italy was in Glasgow, Scotland in 1991.

• Official Versace online store

North America

• Bal Harbour
• Beverly Hills
• Houston
• Las Vegas (Forum Shops, The Crystals)
• New York City
• Tysons Galleria
• Vancouver

Boutiques were previously operated in Montreal, San Francisco, Boston, Orlando, Chicago, Chevy Chase, Philadelphia, and Maui, among others, but have since been closed. Versace also features 123 retail areas in a variety of luxury multi-designer department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

South America

• Bogotá
• Lima
• São Paulo

Central America

• Paradise Island

Europe

• Bari
• Berlin
• Brussels
• Dnipropetrovsk
• Donetsk
• Frankfurt
• Geneva
• Istanbul
• Izhevsk
• Kiev
• London
• Lugano
• Marbella
• Milan (flagship stores city)
• Moscow
• Munich
• Nicosia
• Paris
• Porto Cervo
• Prague
• Reggio Calabria (in the old shop of the mother of Versace brothers)
• Rome
• Sofia
• St. Moritz
• Tallinn
• Venice
• Vienna
• Yekaterinburg

Middle East

• Abu Dhabi
• Doha
• Dubai (Dubai Mall, BurJuman)
• Jeddah
• Khobar
• Kuwait City
• Manama
• Riyadh

Asia

• Almaty
• Baku
• Bangkok
• Beijing
• Chengdu
• Dalian
• Guangzhou
• Hangzhou
• Harbin
• Hefei
• Ho Chi Minh City
• Hong Kong
• Jakarta
• Kuala Lumpur
• Kunming
• Macau
• Mumbai
• Nanjing
• New Delhi
• Osaka
• Qingdao
• Seoul
• Shanghai
• Shenyang
• Shenzhen
• Singapore
• Suzhou
• Taipei
• Tianjin
• Tokyo
• Vladivostock
• Xi'an
• Zhengzhou

Africa

• Casablanca (opening soon)

Australia

• Gold Coast
• Melbourne
• Sydney

Versace headquarters is in Milan.

Luxury hotels[edit]

Following an initial approach from architect Soheil Abedian in 1997, a project was established to built a fashion-branded hotel complex on Australia’s Gold Coast, claimed to be the first such hotel. The lavish Palazzo Versace Australia opened in 2000. A second Palazzo Versace is under construction in Dubai, though the project has encountered delays.^[9]

Versace precious items[edit]

Gianni Versace and Frank Muller launched the first Versace watch collection line in 1994. The name of the first collection was Atelier and it became a must among fashionistas and Versace brand lovers.

Since then, the collection of Versace timepieces has evolved and the range of products of the Medusa fashion brand has greatly been expanded.

Versace watches line is produced under license agreement in Switzerland. Timex Group bought the license in 2005 but the Versace watch line is still produced and operated from Switzerland by Vertime SA.

Since the discontinuation of the Atelier collection a new line from the Italian fashion house, Versace Precious Items evolved. The collection includes watches, fine jewelry, and writing instruments.

Lamborghini Murcielago Versace had agreed to make the first ever designer car in the world in the make of a white Lamborghini Murcielago all white exterior and interior with all black rims.

In 1984, the Ford Motor Company offered the Versace edition Lincoln Mark VII. It continued into 1985 but was discontinued after that.

In 2010 Versace unveiled the first Versace mobile phone, the Versace unique, also the first ever 'luxury' multi-media, sapphire-crystal touch screen mobile phone. It comes in a variety of colours, from grey mink to hot pink, lilac to pop red, and costs from $5,600 to $16,000, depending on the trims, available in stainless steel or solid gold. The interior software was done by Modelabs and LG. It is hand-assembled in France, and available only in select Versace boutiques.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

	Italy portal
	Companies portal
	Fashion portal

• VERSACE.com Company web site
• Official Versace online store
• VERSACEcollection.com Versace Collection web site
• Versacehome.it Versace Home Design
• Gianni Versace, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF)