Discover: Designer Brand - Versace

Born to a dressmaker mother, Gianni Versace grew up surrounded by fashion apprenticing at a young age helping his mother find precious stones and gold braid with which to embroider the dresses.

History of Versace

In 1972 after studying architecture, a young Versace moved to Milan to work in fashion design. In 1978, Gianni Versace founded the brand and in 1978 he debuted his first collection of women’s wear and his designs received relatively instant popularity. He began designing costumes for La Scala theatre in Milan in the early 1980’s and received the Silver Mask Award in 1985 that recognized his contribution to theater. The first Versace couture collection was launched in 1989 under the name Atelier Versace. The brand grows throughout the 1990’s but in 1997 Gianni was passed away and his sister Donatella took over as Creative Director and his brother Santo took the spot of CEO and Donatella’s daughter Allegra is also involved. The brand produces a vast array of products, such as men and women’s fashions, accessories, fragrances, home goods and a Versace mobile phone. They also own two luxury resort hotels. There is one location in Dubai and one on the Gold Coast.

Headquartered in Milan

The company’s headquarters is stationed in Milan, Italy but there are offices in Parigi, India, New York City, Hong Kong and Pechino, China. Versace pieces can be purchased in their boutiques, which are located all over the world. High-end departments stores such as Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Off 5th Avenue also house Versace boutiques.

Versace: A Unique Fashion House

Versace is unique among other fashion houses for a few reasons. For one, they span so many areas of production and have many separate lines within their house. The house also fostered the ‘supermodel phenomenon’ when he featured all of the top models of the time in his 1991 runway show.