Versus (Versace) was a

diffusion line A diffusion line (also known as a bridge line) is a secondary line of merchandise created by a high-end fashion house or fashion designer that retails at lower prices. These ranges are separate from a fashion house's "signature line", or principal ...

of the Italian luxury fashion house

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as w ...

. It began in 1989 and was a gift by the founder

Gianni Versace Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace (; 2 December 1946 – 15 July 1997) was an Italian fashion designer, socialite and businessman. He was the founder of Versace, an international luxury-fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-u ...

to his sister,

Donatella Versace Donatella Francesca Versace (; born 2 May 1955) is an Italian fashion designer, businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the developm ...

. After closing in 2005, Donatella resurrected it in 2009 with a

capsule collection A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothing that is composed of interchangeable items only, to maximise the number of outfits that can be created. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing ...

of accessories designed by emerging British designer

Christopher Kane Christopher John Kane (born 26 July 1982) is a Scottish fashion designer based in London. Biography Kane was born as the youngest of five children in Newarthill, North Lanarkshire, to an engineer and draughtsman father and housewife mother. K ...

. In 2018, Versace integrated Versus with another diffusion line of the brand, Versace Jeans, forming Versace Jeans Couture, which currently operates as the company's only diffusion line.

Brand

Gianni Versace introduced Versus in 1989 describing it, "Versus was born with an innate creative approach, with a strong focus on innovation, and a flair for the unconventional. An artistic force that takes present fashion forward, anticipating new trends and embracing challenge". Versus was endorsed by many celebrities including

Zayn Malik Zain Javadd Malik ( ; born 12 January 1993), known mononymously as Zayn, is an English pop and R&B singer. Zayn auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series ''The X Factor'' in 2010. After being eliminate ...

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

Cheryl Cole Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. Born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, she rose to fame in late 2002 upon winning a place in Girls Aloud, a girl group created through ITV's '' Popstar ...

Leighton Meester Leighton Marissa Meester (; born April 9, 1986) is an American actress, singer, and model. She is best known for her starring role as the devious socialite Blair Waldorf on ''Gossip Girl'' on The CW (2007–2012). She has also appeared in films ...

Miranda Cosgrove Miranda Taylor Cosgrove (born May 14, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She was the highest-paid child actor in 2012 and was included on ''Forbes'' magazine's " 30 Under 30" list in 2022. She is known for her career on television, parti ...

and

Alexa Chung Alexa Chung (born 5 November 1983) is a British television presenter, model, internet personality, writer, and fashion designer. She wrote the book ''It'' (2013). Her fashion label Alexa Chung, stylized , launched in May 2017 and closed in 2022. ...

, and featured in and on the cover of fashion and lifestyle magazines like Vogue, InStyle, ELLE and Glamour.

History

After the success of Gianni, Versace SpA in the early and mid-1980s, the company's founder

created the house's secondary line, Versus, as a gift to Donatella, his sister, muse, and vice-president of the company. The first fashion show was presented in Milan in 1990. Between 1995 and 2003, each season's collection of ready-to-wear, accessories, eyewear, and watches was presented in New York during New York Fashion Week. Versus was known for its distinctive rock-chic look that Donatella favored and used to influence the house's main collections. During 2004, when the company was facing a downturn in profits, Versus was reduced to a limited collection of accessories, eventually being shut down with the final show; the menswear spring/summer collection 2005. In 2009, Donatella Versace began a stylistic collaboration with English designer

, marking the re-launch of the brand in February 2009 with a special "capsule of accessories", distributed through selected multi-brand stores. After working with Kane, M.I.A. created a capsule collection. In December 2013, Versace announced that Anthony Vaccarello would create a capsule collection for Versus.

Christopher Kane (2009–12)

Having acted as a consultant at Versace after Donatella acclaimed his MA collection for Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Donatella invited Scottish designer Christopher Kane to re-launch the line with her in February 2009 with a capsule collection of handbags, shoes, and jewelry. For spring/summer 2010, Kane presented 16 dresses for the line at Milan Fashion Week. He has since presented two other collections for the line, fall/winter 2009/2010 and most recently spring/summer 2011, his first official runway collection at Milan Fashion Week. Donatella has likened Kane to her brother, the late Gianni Versace. Since Gianni died in 1997, she has become the creative director of the house's main line and other surviving diffusion lines.

JW Anderson (2013–2014)

Irish

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

Jonathan Anderson began collaborating with Versus in 2013. Anderson launched his label

JW Anderson JW Anderson is a British fashion label, founded by Jonathan Anderson. Anderson lived in Northern Ireland during his youth before establishing JW Anderson in 2008 and subsequently launched his fashion house in London. The brand initially focused ...

in 2008.

Anthony Vaccarello (2014–2016)

Anthony Vaccarello exited Versus Versace in 2016 to become Creative Director for Saint Laurent.

Watches

There are several lines of watches that are made from various materials. There are lines in many colors for adults, boys, and girls: strong colors such as yellow, blue, red, and green. They are claimed to be water resistant up to five atmospheres.

Fragrance

Along with the re-launch of Versus, Versace introduced a fragrance to the line, entitled Versus. The bottle is of purple and white design. The model

Lara Stone Lara Catherina Stone (born 20 December 1983) is a Dutch fashion model. Stone has appeared on the covers of W and Vogue and has worked with brands like Fendi, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, H&M, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Versace amon ...

is the face of the ad campaign shot by Craig McDean.

Zayn Malik (2017)

English R&B-pop singer and former

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...

member Zayn launched his capsule collection called 'ZAYNxVersus' that was released in June 2017. Along with Zayn,

Bella Hadid Isabella Khairiah Hadid (born October 9, 1996) is an American model. In 2016, she was voted "Model of the Year" by industry professionals for Models.com. Over the span of four years, Hadid has made twenty-seven appearances on international '' ...

also modeled for the collection.

References

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.versace.com/ Versace High fashion brands Clothing brands of Italy Privately held companies of Italy Luxury brands Fashion accessory brands Clothing companies established in 1989 1989 establishments in Italy Companies based in Milan Eyewear brands of Italy Watch manufacturing companies of Italy