On May 2, 2025, Donatella Versace turns seventy years. A milestone that is also the definitive affirmation of a legacy that has gone through eras, styles and cultural revolutions, transforming itself into an autonomous and essential creative force. Donatella has been able to ferry the Versace house from private pain to global consecration, imprinting a personal direction without ever betraying the original aesthetic made of sensuality, strength and theatricality.
Five episodes, in particular, strongly tell the unique trajectory of his career, between creative intuitions and courageous choices.
The bondage look drawn to brother Gianni
Among the most iconic images of the nineties there is that of Donatella, blonde and magnetic, on the arm of his brother Gianni on the red carpet of the party for the 100 years of Voguein 1993 In that apparition the aesthetic of the maison crystallized: provocative, proudly ostentatious, imbued with controlled eroticism. But we also read the creative complicity between the two brothers, a rare alchemy that would have made the history of fashion.
The dress of Jennifer Lopez and the birth of Google Images
2000 is the year that consecrates Donatella as a perfect director of the pop-gray imagination. When Jennifer Lopez shows up at Grammy Awards with the famous Versace green dress, with a profound neckline that challenges the laws of gravity, the whole world goes crazy. The impact is such that Google, overwhelmed by the searches related to the dress, is forced to create a system to find images more effectively: Google Images is born as follows. That moment, born from an daring aesthetic choice, marks the definitive entry of fashion into contemporary digital language.
The supermodels on the catwalk in memory of Gianni
In 2017, twenty years after the tragic death of Gianni, Donatella brought back the beating heart of the golden age of fashion on the catwalk. Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Carla Bruni and Helena Christensen parade together, dressed in gold, on the notes of Freedom! by George Michael. It is much more than a tribute: it is a moment of collective celebration, an act of love and memory that combines past and present. At that moment, Donatella is no longer only the heir, but the custodian and amplifier of a vision that continues to generate beauty.
Fendace and the birth of Fashion collaborations
In 2021, in a gesture that breaks the customs of the fashion system, Donatella gives life to “Fendace”, an unprecedented collaboration between Versace and Fendi, in which the two maison exchange roles and codes. Kim Jones draws for Versace, Donatella for Fendi. The result is a playful and intelligent dialogue between two luxury visions, which celebrates contamination as a value, not as a threat. With this project, Donatella once again demonstrates his ability to renew himself, to read the present and anticipate the future, without ever stopping to surprise.
The agreement with Prada and a new chapter in Italian high fashion
Among the last, significant, passages of his professional parable there is the historic transfer of Versace to Prada, a move that marks the end of the brand’s independence but also the beginning of a new era. In a context dominated by the great conglomerates of luxury, the choice to join a reality such as that of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli is not a simple economic agreement, it is a strategic gesture that ensures a solid and creative future in Versace. Donatella, while giving up full control, remains a central and charismatic figure, a guide and symbol of a maison that continues to make school.
