Donatella Versace is the chief designer and vice president of the Italian fashion brand Versace. She was born in Riggio di Calabria, Italy on May 2,1955.Her father was a personal financier and her mother was a dressmaker and had a small business in the home where Donatella and her 3 siblings grew up. Her start in fashion came during the 1970's. While studying languages at the University of Florence, Donatella began to work for her brother Giovanni "Gianni" at his fashion label Versace doing public relations and supervising the photographic advertising campaigns of the company. Donatella and her brother Gianni had a very close and loving relationship. She became his muse and helped him in the creative process of the label by offering constructive criticism. During the 1980's Gianni created a perfume inspired by Donatella called Blonde. He even created an extension of the Versace label called Versus it was meant to be a fashion forward label with a rock & roll spirit.
After Gianni Versace was murdered on July 15, 1997, the rest of the Versace family went into seclusion at a private resort in the Caribbean. The fashion label canceled their Spring/Summer Collection and the company was at a stand still. After a year of mourning the death of her brother Donatella put on her first Couture show for Versace at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Since then Donatella has helped the Versace brand flourish and expand. 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 Donatella Versace.
Donatella is a pioneer in the fashion world for associating the Versace label with high profile celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Demi Moore, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Liz Hurley. She has placed well known celebrities as models for Versace's campaigns like Madonna, Halle Berry, Patrick Dempsey, and most recently January Jones. The Versace brand is an industry favorite because of their sophisticated, sexy, bold, and glamorous styles.
Some of the Versace items I found interesting:
