Test Your Versace Knowledge

Versace: A Brief History and Overview

• Gianni Versace founded the Italian luxury fashion company in 1978, known for flashy prints and bright colors.
• The brand produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as haute couture under its Atelier Versace brand.
• Versace licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear.
• The company logo is inspired by Medusa, a figure from Greek mythology.
• The first boutique opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, expanding to accessories, jewelry, home furnishings, and china by 1982.
• Donatella Versace added the Young Versace and Versus lines in 1993.
• The brand gained international coverage from the black Versace dress of Elizabeth Hurley in 1994.
• After Gianni Versace's murder in 1997, Donatella Versace became creative director, and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO.
• In 2018, Michael Kors purchased Versace for two billion euros, and in 2019, Gianni Versace S.r.l. joined Capri Holdings Limited, forming a new global fashion luxury group.
• Versace stopped using fur in its products in 2018 and announced it would stop using kangaroo leather in 2020.
• The brand has three Palazzo Versace hotels, the world's first fashion-branded hotels, in Gold Coast, Dubai, and Macau.
• Versace faced controversy in 2019 for producing a range of tops suggesting Hong Kong and Macau were separate countries. The brand apologized and destroyed the offending clothing.