“I am still very grateful to Gian Giacomo Ferraris. Under his leadership, Versace completed the counterattack.” Donatella Versace talked about the high-level changes that had just occurred within the company: “But today we need a CEO who understands brand strategy and the retail market better.”
This blond-haired, brown-skinned, chain-smoking woman has been at the helm of Versace for 19 years. Gradually, she changed from the muse of the company founder, his brother Gianni Versace, to a key figure who truly influenced the brand's aesthetic direction. At the same time, she is also interesting, with all kinds of tidbits coming one after another, such as inspiring Lady Gaga to compose songs inspired by her; appearing in a campaign for Givenchy last year; taking fancy selfies with supermodels...
Before the opening of Milan Men’s Fashion Week, Donatella Versace accepted an exclusive interview with Women’s Wear Daily at the Milan headquarters. The self-proclaimed "nocturnal animal" started with the show opening time, and hot topics such as the merger of men's and women's catwalks, fashion seasonality and secondary line development strategies were all covered in this conversation.
Gender doesn’t matter? Pure nonsense
The time schedule of 4pm made her uncomfortable. "I prefer it to be later, such as 6 p.m." Donatella Versace has many personal opinions on the fashion conference, the most determined of which is the unification of men and women.
Gucci, also a fashion house from Italy, has high-profile support - in April this year, brand CEO Marco Bizzarri announced that starting from 2017, Gucci product series releases will no longer be divided into men's and women's clothing. Coincidentally, the British brand Burberry had already implemented mixed gender catwalks in February earlier.
But Donatella Versace is in the opposition camp. "I don't think genderless shows are a wise move. Although the spirit behind Versace's men's and women's clothing is the same, they are different individuals." She also emphasized: "If they are combined into one show, the designer will be forced to use the same type of fabric, but I need more freedom."
There are no seasons in the fashion industry
The biggest "compromise" she could think of was to put the men's and women's shows in the same week. "Should the media watch the men's show and then fly to see the women's show a month later? I don't understand the point.. "Donatella Versace believes that the current dazzling catwalk schedule is bound to usher in a fundamental reform.
For her, the new way of breaking the rules by showing and selling immediately is worth a try, "but it is more suitable for a secondary line like Versus, or a brand that targets young people." “If it is printing, it will definitely take time to develop and produce, but the concept of selling immediately is to show and sell immediately, rather than waiting for three months. "She frankly said that as a consumer, she feels the same way. For this reason, all 8 styles in the 2016 autumn and winter series that are ready for sale have been put on the shelves.
"Green is the representative color of autumn and winter? "Donatella Versace said that she likes to add green, an uncontrollable color, to her collections. "There are no seasons in the fashion industry."
The elements left by Gianni will one day be exhausted
Looking back on the 1970s, it was the rise of a new generation of Italian ready-to-wear designers that made Milan become an important fashion capital. Gianni Versace is one of them. Unlike Miuccia Prada, who was born into a wealthy bourgeois family, Gianni Versace came from a grassroots family. He got inspiration from prostitutes to design sexy leather jackets decorated with sequins, and became famous for it.
Beginning in 1979, his sister Donatella Versace began designing accessories for the company. About ten years later, Versace's secondary line Versus and children's clothing series were launched, and she was responsible for the product design behind them. In 1997, Gianni Versace was shot and died at his Miami villa, and Donatella Versace was thrust into the media spotlight overnight. Fortunately, she was very confident and spent three months designing the new season's ready-to-wear collection.
“Guests always expect more baroque-style clothes from Versace, but I want to come up with something new. "Donatella Versace took men's clothing as an example: "When men think of Versace, they will think of iconic elements such as leather pants and rivets. But one day, the mark left by Gianni will be exhausted, and today almost every brand will use rivets. ”
What will Versus look like in the future?
More precisely, what would Versus be like without Anthony Maccarello? In April this year, French fashion house Saint Laurent hired creative director Anthony Vaccarello from Versus Versace to replace Hedi Slimane.
Versus, established in 1989, was closed for a while. In 2005, the then CEO of Versace believed that the cost of Versus was too high, and he axed the secondary brand in a streamlining plan. It wasn't until 2009 that Versus reopened, this time with a strategic focus on social media. "Before this, we were always in a relatively closed circle, which included designers and journalists. But fashion is no longer the exclusive domain of the elite, it has long been democratized." Donatella said in an interview with the Guardian.
"Vaccarello's departure does not mean the end of Versus. In fact, we already have someone there to direct the overall situation, but the identity cannot be disclosed yet. In September this year, we may have a display of 30 styles in London."
The new face of Donatella Versace is not only the "anonymous" creative director, but also the newly appointed CEO Jonathan Akeroyd. She analyzed: "Akeroyd has worked for Harrods for 11 years before, and his rich retail experience is exactly what we urgently need at this stage." If Versace's goal is to become the next Italian company to go public, then it must step up its pace. In 2015, Vercase's sales increased by 17.5% year-on-year to 645 million euros.
The above references to Donatella Versace are all from Women's Wear Daily (WWD); the original title is "Donatella Versace Talks Creativity and Men's Wear".
