Termpaper on Designer Gianni Versace and Donatella Versace - Research Paper Example

Over the Versace fashion world, the designs have reached more than 300 boutiques and 2,000 stores. The Versace fashion name has brought in $2 billion in sales in retail in the US, or around $557 million estimated in 1996. The company was on the verge of expansion when the respected 50-year-old designer, Gianni Versace, was shot in front of his Miami home. The family business was threatened to be pulled apart when his brother Santo and his sister Donatella stepped in to save it. The essay goes into more detail about Gianni’s experience and how Donatella became the chief designer and carried on the Versace legacy.

Gianni was born in 1946 in Reggio Calabria, Italy to a small tailor-shop owner. He learned most of what he knew about fashion from his mother and working in her shop. He did not have a formal education in fashion design. He did, however, attend school for architecture in Calabria from 1964 to 1967. He spent much of his time as a child in his mother’s shop where he gained most of his experience. At times he was asked to assist in the selection of beads, crystals, stones and braids to trim some of his mothers designs.

Through this experience as a young child he learned about fabrics, decorations, how to create a design, and fittings. He gained much of his knowledge about the actual creation of a garment by watching her. He later worked in his mothers shop as a designer and buyer for five years. After a few years working in the shop, he began to experiment with designs of his own. He started with nontradition combinations of color and fabric. He would sometimes encompass silk, fur and cotton in one garment, which was totally different from traditional designs.

He later moved to Milan to pursue a fashion career of his own. He became well know under three of the design houses of Callaghan, Complice and Genny. Since he was well known