Today 47 years ago, on March 28, 1978, Gianni Versace presented his first women’s collection under his own name in the Palazzo Della. Reason enough for fashionunited to look back on the history of the Versace and Gianni Versace brand. The designer was murdered in Miami on July 15, 1997, but the brand he founded took its place in the Olympus of Italian fashion history. It has been at the center of financial events for months because it could be part of the Prada Group shortly.
The history of the brand
It was the early 1980s: “Always at the pulse of time, Carla (Sotzzani, editor’s note) carried tailor -made jackets by Giorgio Armani, dresses by Gianni Versace and from him designed by Louise Baring for L’Ipocampo” Carla Sozzani, Kunst, Kunst, Kunst, Living and Fashion ”. Like Gianni Versace, Carla Sozzani was a key figure for the establishment of Milan as a fashion capital.
At the time, Versace, who founded the fashion house of the same name in 1978, was already an interesting brand that SOzzani liked, one of the personalities that shaped fashion, art and design of the past decades. As director of Elle and the special editions of the Vogue, SOzzani worked side by side with designers such as Azzedine Alaïa, Romeo Gigli and Paco Rabanne. In 1990 she founded 10 Corso Como, a room that combines fashion and art, design and conviviality and in which Sozzani expressed her visionary imagination.
Versace was born on December 2, 1946 in Reggio Calabria as Giovanni Maria Versace, nine years ahead of his sister Donatella, who took over the creative direction of the company after his early and tragic death. Gianni came into contact with the fashion world at a young age when he worked in his mother’s studio, a seamstress.
His Calabrian roots, his work as a costume designer and the Milanese, which was reflected in the strict and determination, to conquer his audience, especially VIPs and celebrities,, Versace made a fashion house that was characterized by his bold, luxurious and sensual style. It is still so popular today that the Prada Group is in negotiations on taking over the house.
“Reggio is the kingdom in which the fairy tale of my life began: my mother’s studio, the Haute-Couture boutique. The place where I started as a child, the Ilias, the Odyssey and the Aeneis, and where I started to breathe the art of ancient Greece,” said Versace in the 1990s.
In 1972 he moved to Milan to work as a fashion designer and designed the first collections for Genny, Complice and Callaghan. In 1975 he presented his first leather collection for Complice.
On March 28, 1978, Gianni Versace presented the first women’s collection under his own name in the Palazzo Della Permanente in Milan and revolutionized the fashion world with its innovative creations, which characterized by bright colors and striking prints, penetrated by the Milan Glamor, which conquered the world especially before the 2000s.
The brand is known worldwide for its daring use of prints, which are inspired by classical art and pop culture. The Medusa logo became a symbol of luxury, while Gianni Versace remains a revolutionary that broke with traditional patterns. Donatella Versace has adapted the brand to the development of culture and society over time and awarded the collections of modernity and strength.
The long list of singers: inside and actors: inside that wear Versace
Madonna is one of the icons that worked most with Versace and wore his clothes on numerous occasions, on stage and outside. Princess Diana was also a great admirer of Versace, and her looks of the brand have become iconic. At the Grammy Awards 2000, Jennifer Lopez wore a green Versace dress, a moment that became one of the most iconic moments in fashion history.
Elton John often wore his friend Gianni Versace’s creations, as did the models Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, who ran over the catwalk for many years and wore the brand.
Versace today
Today, Versace is bringing out prêt-à-porter creations for women, men and children, as well as the haute couture atelier versace and the Versace Jeans Couture line as well as shoes, bags, accessories, glasses, fragrances, watches and the household articles verses home. The company has 230 boutiques and 638 authorized sales outlets worldwide.
Since 2018, the brand has been part of Capri Holdings, a company that is said to be negotiating the sale of the brand to the Prada Group.
Donatella Versace stood at the creative tip of the brand until the latest fashion show. For the autumn/winter collection 2025–26, the designer, who continues to act as the most important brand ambassador for the brand after the handover of the creative direction to Dario Vitale, reminded of the past to take a new way into the future and to revive the basic values of Versace: freedom, individuality and integrity.
The designs and patterns of Versace Home, one of the first lifestyle lines of a fashion brand, conquered the catwalk. The collection is characterized by a mixture of neoclassicism and modernity and is reminiscent of the interiors of the residences of Gianni Versace. Sculptural and theatrical silhouettes alternate with deconstructions in the punk style. On the catwalk, Atelier Versace bust animal dresses with hyperstructured skirts with prints of gravity, Spencer or cardigans with a voluminous cut, tailor-made coats and the fleet skirts padded evening dresses.
Inspired by the quilting ceilings and upholstered furniture from Versace Home, the printed quilted patterns are transformed into bustiers, quilted jackets and scarf collar jackets that summit in scenic evening dresses.
This article previously appeared on fashionunited.it and was used with digital tools translated.
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