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Versace

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For other uses, see Versace (disambiguation).
Versace
Company typePrivate
IndustryConsumer Goods
Founded1978
Headquarters
Italy Milan
,
Italy
Key people
Gianni Versace, Founder
Santo Versace, Chairman & Co-CEO
Giancarlo Di Risio, Director & Co-CEO
Donatella Versace, Artistic Director
ProductsTextile - Apparel clothing [1]
RevenueDecrease € 288 million (2006)
Decrease € 19.1 million (2006) [2]
Websitewww.versace.com

Gianni Versace S.p.A. (IPA: [ˈdʒɑnːi verˈsatʃe]), usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian clothier founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. After Gianni Versace was killed by Andrew Cunanan on July 15, 1997, his sister Donatella Versace, formerly vice-president, stepped in as creative director of the designing of Versace and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO.

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.

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 Creative Director, Donatella Versace.

Versace lines

There are several lines which make up Versace Group (pronounced Versachi). They are: Gianni Versace Couture, Versace Jeans Couture, Versace Home Collection 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, jewellery, watches, fragrances, cosmetics and home furnishings, is the House's main line. Traditionally, this is the only line which is 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 a suit $5,000. Donatella Versace directly heads this line and designs a vast amount of the items. Many of the accessories and home furnishings are licenced through Rosenthal and other notable companies. Most of these have the unique Versace Greek print of Medusa and/or the Greek Key motif. Atelier Versace was a haute-couture line which was discontinued soon after its inception due to lack of sales and a fall in couture marketablility.

Versace Collection and Versace Jeans Couture are licenced diffusion lines. These clothing lines incorporate elements of the signature Gianni Versace line, while focusing on current seasonal trends. Often these lines are created and produced via other designer companies, which are in constant communication with the Versace Group. Versace Collection is aimed at a younger audience than the main lines and it is also more available to a variety of economic demographics. This collection replaced Versace Classic for Spring/Summer 2006 in a drive to eradicate a skewed Versace image, due to the diffusion of multiple clothing lines within the company. In addition to the Versace Classic, the clothier also discontinued Versace Intensive and Versace Young in 2005 for the same reasons.

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 activewear and accessories. The name 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 has a very wide band of A list celebrities and models supporting Versace as well as wearing their clothing.

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 Beyonce, 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. Tupac Shakur (2pac) rapped about wearing the Versace label in songs such as "Hit 'Em Up" which rival rapper Notorious B.I.G, aka Biggie Smalls, allegedly perceived as disrespectful to himself. Tupac was also a Versace model. The late rap icon The Notorious B.I.G. was known for his love of Versace sunglasses.

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. The dress became infamous for its frontal area.

Versace is unique among Italian fashion houses to use a "face" for the House. The design company sometimes features famous individuals in their widely-seen advertisements. Whereas other houses often rely on press attention, Versace has gone a step further in their advertising strategy. As part of a such a "face" feature, the celebrity is often paid a sum and Versace clothing, compliments of the House. Madonna, for example, was paid $10.5m and given free Versace clothes for 2 years for her contribution to Versace advertising campaign in 2005.

During summer of 2003, The Corrs began recording their fourth studio album, and later on to promote the album, became the face of Versace for 3 years.

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. 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 features Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey as the face of its men's line. Many young models featured as the lineup for Versace have been used over the last several years including but not limited to Tuki Brando, as well as other young faces such as Graham Love and Joel West.

Versace Boutiques

Versace store in Vienna

Versace has eighty-one boutique locations around the world, in the U.S. and Canada specifically: New York City, Atlanta, Bal Harbour, Beverly Hills, Dallas, Houston, South Coast Plaza, Tysons Galleria and Vancouver. Boutiques were previously operated in San Francisco, Boston, Orlando, Chicago, 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, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The larger part of their stores are located in the two most style conscious markets in the world, Europe and Japan. Cities like London, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo are home to multiple Versace outlets, not to mention 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 are 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.

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