Versace

Versace

Type	Private
Founded	1978
Headquarters	Milan, Italy
Key people	Gianni Versace, Founder Santo Versace, Chairman & Co-CEO Giancarlo Di Risio, Director & Co-CEO Donatella Versace, Artistic Director
Industry	Consumer Goods
Products	Textile - Apparel clothing [1]
Revenue	▲ € 310.6 million (2007) [2]
Net income	▼ € 19.1 million (2006) [3]
Website	www.versace.com

Gianni Versace S.p.A. (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒɑnːi verˈsaːtʃe]), usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label 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. 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.

Gianni Versace was allegedly killed by Andrew Cunanan on July 15, 1997. His sister Donatella Versace, formerly vice-president, then stepped in as creative director of Versace and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO. Donatellas 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.^[1]

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

There are several lines which make up Versace Group (pronounced Versache). They are: Gianni Versace Couture, Versace Jeans Couture, Versace Home Collection, Versus and Versace Collection. In addition to clothing and accessories, it also operates a hotel, the Palazzo Versace.

Gianni Versace Couture, which contains high-end, often handmade apparel, jewelery, watches, fragrances, cosmetics 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. Many of the accessories and home furnishings are licensed through Rosenthal and other

Versace Jeans Couture, a casual clothing line, focuses on informal clothing: high-end denim and classic Gianni Versace print shirts. It is readily available and comparably affordable. This line is distributed through 56 boutiques and flagship stores, and 1800 multi-brand points of sale, including Internet-based shops. Versace Sport comprises active wear and accessories. The name is often printed on t-shirts.

Versace has taken the fashion industry by storm the last few years with Donatella's independent, strong woman inspired collection, but at the same time making it look sexy, fierce, and chic.

Versace going public

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 & celebrity culture

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 crystal. Other notables fans of the Versace fashion house are Beyoncé, Elizabeth Hurley, Axl Rose and the late Princess Diana, who was offered, but declined, £1,000,000 to appear on the catwalk in Versace to celebrate her divorce from Prince Charles. Many rappers have been known to name drop Versace quite often, e.g. The Notorious B.I.G.

Jennifer Lopez is known to wear Versace in many of her red carpet fashions. Many of the dresses that Lopez has worn have brought much publicity to the fashion house. Lopez wore one of these dresses to the 2000 Grammys, which became infamous for its plunging neckline.

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 (known from Punk'd), Kevin Richardson (former member of The Backstreet Boys), Demi Moore, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. 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. Halle Berry was the face of Versace for Spring/Summer 2006.

Versace used the models Carolyn Murphy, 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 Bundchen for the womens' line. The line has also used models like Isabeli Fontana, Maryna Linchuk, Natalia Vodianova, and Catherine McNeil.

Versace Boutiques

Versace store in Vienna

Versace has eighty-one boutique locations around the world. In North America, there are boutiques in Atlanta, Bal Harbour, Beverly Hills, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, New York City, South Coast Plaza, Tysons Galleria and 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, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The larger part of their stores are located in Europe and Asia. Cities like London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, São Paulo, Santiago de Chile, Bogota, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo are home to Versace, as well as the company headquarters in Milan. There is also a Versace Hotel and Spa in Gold Coast, Australia named the Palazzo Versace.

Versace Precious Items

Gianni Versace and Frank Muller launched the first Versace watch collection line in 1994. The name of the first collection was Atelier and soon 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 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.

References

External links

• VERSACE.com Company web site
• VJC.it Versace Jeans Couture web site
• PalazzoVersace.com Versace Hotel at the Gold Coast in Australia
• VersacePreciousItems.com Watches from Versace
• VersaceCologne.org Versace Cologne
• VersaceHomeCollection.com Furniture Collection from Versace
• VersaceCD.com Versace Ceramic Design
• Designs for Versace Home by Bulgarian artist Ilian Rachov