For the first time in almost 50 years, Versace will no longer be designed by Versace.
Thirty years have passed since she started working for the company – and 27 years after she stepped into the role of creative director after the murder of her brother Gianni, designer Donatella Versace announced that she would be resigning from her role in the Italian brand from the end of March.
“It was the greatest honor of my life to carry on the legacy of my brother Gianni,” she said in a statement Thursday morning. “He was a true genius, but I hope I have his spirit and tenacity.”
Starting in April, former image director of Miu Miu, Dario Vitale (41), will become the former image director of Prada's Edge sister brand Miu Miu and creative director of Versace. Versace will not leave the company. Instead, she becomes the Chief Brand Ambassador and takes care of philanthropy and red carpet dressing (among other roles). Of the new role, Donatera states: “I remain Versace's most passionate supporter. Versace is in my DNA and always in my heart.”
Versace, the youngest and only daughter of a Reggio Calabria dressmaker, was born in 1955, 10 years after his eldest son Gianni. She left home and studied in Florence, but along with her middle brother Santo, who ran the business side, she was very involved in the family business as a supporter and muse for her brother. By 1989, at age 34, she began working at Atelier Versace, and by 1993 she was solely creatively responsible for Versace's cheap line of diffusion.
After Gianni's murder in 1997, the 50-year-old designer was shot outside his home in Miami Beach – Donatera unexpectedly was driven to the top job. Although there was no formal fashion training, she inherited a $807 million (£623 million) business and 130 shops worldwide. Speaking about the time at the Guardian in 2017, she said: “In the first five years I got lost… I made a lot of mistakes. I tell myself… Don't try to become Gianni!”
At that height, under Gianni, Versace specializes in aesthetics, synonymous with “flashion” and vulgar, starry front row. But Donatella was equally intertwined with her appearance, with her tricks to telling the story through the clothes themselves.
Not only has Versace wearable brands, but one of the few women in top jobs at fashion houses, that has become a designer who is as visual clothing ambassadors as their customers, Versace has not only been wearing the brand, but it has become. In 2015, she made a temporary appearance as Givenchy's face, to be recognized immediately.
Versace's position in popular culture rose with Gianni's watch, but he designed Liz Harley's safety pinless and choreographed the 1991 show where supermodels Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista painted George Michael's freedom to draw lips and lips. Jennifer Lopez's “Jungle” dress was worn at the Grammy Awards in 2000. Google created the current Google image.
Despite some dips, Donatella has been speaking out about her addiction, and in the early 2000s the company almost filed for bankruptcy.
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Leadership changes are not just a historic brand transition, but also a financial transition. In a statement Thursday, John D. Idol, chief executive of Capri Holdings, which owns Versace, and Michael Kors and Jimmy Chu were called “part of a thoughtful succession plan.”
Also, the Prada group, which owns Miu Miu, wants to buy Versace and is believed to have an exclusive bid window for the brand. During his tenure at Miu Miu, the brand rose 58% in revenue to 649 million euros (£544 million). Last year, sales increased by 93%.
Vitale is not a famous name in fashion. However, he was rumoured to be a candidate for the role in Bottega Veneta and Gucci. Thanking Donatera, in his own statement, he described his new position as “privilege.”
