There’s power in knowing exactly who you are, and Donatella Versace has never had a moment of doubt. She spent decades wielding the house of Versace, keeping brother Gianni’s legacy alive while molding it into something her own for 28 years. Women became amplified versions of themselves in her designs—louder, stronger, impossible to ignore. Under her command, Versace was a force.
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Now, for the first time since Gianni’s passing, that force belongs to someone else. Donatella has stepped down as creative director, taking on the role of chief brand ambassador. Her new role serves to support Versace’s philanthropic and charitable endeavours, remaining an advocate for the brand globally. Dario Vitale, formerly of Miu Miu, will take her place amid growing speculation that Versace itself may soon fall under the Prada Group’s expanding empire. Can anyone else wield the house’s fearless, gilded bravado with the same conviction as her?
Not everyone believed she could do it. When Gianni was murdered in 1997, skepticism followed Donatella like a shadow. She wasn’t seen as a designer—she was the face of Versace’s excess, its platinum-haired party girl. The industry doubted whether she had the creative discipline to lead, and when the brand struggled financially, those doubts only grew louder. But Donatella knew something they didn’t: Versace had never been about playing it safe. Slowly, she reshaped the house in her own image—sharpening its glamour, forging an alliance with Hollywood, and ensuring that the women who wore Versace weren’t just noticed, but remembered.
The supermodels understood this first. When fashion turned its back on them, Donatella threw open the doors, reviving the era of women who knew how to work the room. She orchestrated their return, draping them in chainmail, plunging necklines, and the kind of high-octane glamour that left no space for humility. Gianni may have given them their first strut down the runway, but Donatella ensured they never faded into the background.
She did the same for Hollywood. The red carpet shifted the moment Jennifer Lopez arrived in that jungle-print dress—an image so arresting it rewired the internet, birthing Google Images. Donatella understood that fashion was the art of commanding a gaze, of making a woman feel as if the world itself had paused in her presence.
She also knew the power of armor. Angelina Jolie, statuesque in black Atelier Versace at the Oscars, her thigh-high slit a moment of pure cinematic dominance. Zendaya, moving through the MET Gala in chainmail, a warrior stepping out of legend and into the flash of a thousand cameras. Lady Gaga at the 2017 Super Bowl Halftime Show was airborne in crystal-studded Versace, a human firework exploding above a stadium. Donatella sculpted mythology, dressing women as if they had stepped out of history books and into the modern world, untouched by time, unshaken by power.
There was the audacity of making history irresistible. Donatella turned Versace’s Greco-Roman roots into a source of power. The Medusa head was a sigil. The gilded baroque prints belonged in motion, draped over figures that turned every entrance into a moment. And when she revived Gianni’s designs for the Tribute Collection for S/S18, it was a sovereign act, the work of a woman who understood that her name was already etched into the foundation of fashion itself.
As a new creative director steps in and whispers of Prada’s involvement grow louder, Versace stands at a crossroads. But Donatella’s impact doesn’t hinge on who takes her place. It’s written by every woman who ever put on a Versace dress and felt, for a moment, like she could run the world.
Photos: VERSACE and DONATELLA VERSACE (via Instagram); WHAT THE FROCK (via Reddit)
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