Why Donatella has stepped down from Versace

Telegraph

13-03-2025

Donatella Versace who, after almost 30 years as creative director and figurehead of the label her brother founded in 1978, has announced she is stepping down to be succeeded by Dario Vitale. The news was not unexpected.
Untrained and for a long time, unserious, she was never meant to become one of the most famous designers in the world. In 1997, her beloved big brother and partner in all things rebellious, was murdered outside his Miami mansion. Donatella Versace, always the indulged little sister (and in many ways Gianni's female alter ego) was forced into a position of responsibility that for several decades sat heavily with her.
The euphemism is party girl. She was grieving her brother, a carefree existence as well as a creative partnership, blaming herself for not being with him when he was gunned down. The two were extremely close. She was Gianni's muse, always encouraging him to go shorter, sexier, va-va-voomier – an Italian play girl living her best life. And suddenly she had to deal with a crumbling company and marriage (to the former model Paul Beck) and their two traumatised children whose worlds were upended by their beloved uncle's death.
What she had in her favour was grit, kindness and, even in the troughs of addiction, an infectious sense of humour. Cruelly poked and prodded by the long lens of the paparazzi who delighted in taking unflattering photos of her, she once told me that her best beauty sleep was 'going to sleep in the freezer'. An icon of the gay world, she was thoroughly in on the joke, poking fun at herself for wearing high heels even in the gym and her love of excess, which was baked into the Versace brand. Less was emphatically not more, chez Versace. It was a bore.
But despite her genius for great quotes and her unerring instinct for what makes a good picture (clue: lots of parties and celebrity friends), the brand never delivered on its notoriety. While she initially brought a more wearable, less theatrical sensibility to the house, it never set a fashion agenda (like it or not) as it had under Gianni. Her nose for a story could nevertheless produce major fashion magic.
The plunging jungle-print dress that Jennifer Lopez wore to the Grammys in 2000 – so famous that Google created Google Image Search to cope with the demand – was designed under Donatella's watch. 'The amazing thing about that dress is that it was all quite unpremeditated compared with how planned things are now,' Donatella told me. 'She just liked it and wore it. I don't think she thought too much about the consequences.' But despite the Lopez dress, the Spring 2018 show that reunited five of the original supermodels on the catwalk, and endless Grammy and Oscar moments, Versace remained in the second division, money wise.
Maybe that's why in 2019, she sold the label to Capri Holdings (formerly Michael Kors Holdings) for a handy $2.1 billion. 'I had so many approaches over the years and I always said no,' she told me at the time. 'Why would I want to follow rules set down by Wall Street when I could do whatever I wanted if we kept the company?' So why Capri Holdings? 'Because John Idol, [then CEO of Capri Holdings] is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. He doesn't want to change a thing about this company, except help it to grow much bigger and make our website the best, and most efficient. The only thing he's said so far is that we need to focus more on accessories. But we already knew that.'
In 2023, she staged a well received show in LA that featured a starry front row (many of whom were personal friends) but just as importantly, showcased how good this house could be when it put its mind to it. The tailoring was spectacularly good: the curvaceous red carpet dresses as audacious as ever. A best selling range of bags however, failed to materialise. Makeup – such an obvious win for Donatella – was never launched. Financially the needle refused to move significantly, unlike Prada, the behemoth run by her unlikely friend Miuccia Prada, which recently posted growth of 104 per cent year on year.
Their friendship always intrigued observers. Prada the intellectual, Milanese-born caviar Marxist (in her youth) who never wore makeup and loved geek chic; Versace, the peroxided vamp.
Mergers and acquisitions perhaps? There is much well founded speculation that Capri Holdings is keen to offload Versace, and that the Prada Group (which also owns Miu Miu and Church's) is interested in acquiring this undercapitalised fashion institution. If it does come to pass, the possibilities are intriguing. Their respective aesthetics couldn't be more different. But Prada, which has barely wavered at the preeminent creative force in Italian fashion, is seeking to expand after posting strong organic sales growth in the last nine months of 2024 despite a slowdown in demand, while Versace operates at a loss. A merger might signal the first move in Italy's response to the two French conglomerates LVMH and Kering) that dominate the luxury business.
As for what Donatella Versace will do next – whatever she has energy for. A book, a movie of her life, more work for women's and Aids charities. The public is still fascinated by her. If anything, the older she gets, the more iconic she becomes. As she herself notes laconically, 'If people like me now it's probably just because I've been around such a long time.'
Six major Donatella Versace moments
The dress that changed the internet
When Jennifer Lopez wore the plunge jungle-print chiffon dress to the Grammy Awards, Google was prompted to create Google Images to handle the search traffic. In that same year, Lisa Armstrong chose the dress to represent the Dress of the Year to join the Fashion Museum of Bath's Dress of the Year collection.
The beginning of 'Brangelina'
In 2005, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's romance was all that the celebrity magazines could talk about, Donatella dressed Angelina Jolie for the premiere of Mr and Mrs Smith in figure-sculpting black leather.
Reuniting the supermodels
Versace's Spring 2018 collection saw Donatella reunite five of the major supers – Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni, and Helena Christensen – wearing draped golden mesh goddess dresses, to the sounds of George Michael's hit, Freedom.
J Lo 2.0
Donatella staged another coup with her Spring 2020 show when a glowing J Lo wowed the crowds in Milan, closing the catwalk show with a victory lap that demonstrated that she could still wear the barely-there Jungle dress at 50-plus years old.
Friend to the stars
The scenic Fall 2023 show staged in Los Angeles on the roof of the Pacific Design Centre was Donatella-era Versace at its best. Elton John and Cher sat front row.
Her final bow