“Versace,” Carrie Bradshaw declared in an episode of And Just Like That, holding up the dress she wore in the series finale of Sex and the City. “I’ve only worn her twice. Once in Paris. And once here, just for fun.” The giant, ruffled gown — costume designer Patricia Field’s favourite fashion moment from Sex and the City — is one of the Italian house’s most famous looks, alongside that Jennifer Lopez dress, Elizabeth Hurley’s safety-pin gown, Dua Lipa’s runway debut and Blake Lively in archival Versace that Britney Spears wore in 2002.
Versace is fun. It’s glamorous. It’s recognisable. “It’s more than just fashion,” says Tiffany Hsu, chief buying officer at Mytheresa. “It’s about lifestyle and a sense of belonging to something iconic. There’s definitely a cult following around the brand, with many buyers keen to embrace the bold, glamorous aesthetic that Versace has always represented.” But who is buying it today?
Until recently, Versace, which is owned by Capri Holdings, was set to join Tapestry in what would have been an American mega-merger, until it was terminated in November 2024. Now, analysts expect Capri to sell the Italian brand, which it owns alongside Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo. Interest is piqued, with rumours swirling that bidders from Prada Group to ex-Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri are interested in the acquisition. Analysts have identified the brand as one of the most interesting acquisition targets for 2025. “There are very few legacy brands that are up for deals, so if an interesting brand comes to the market — provided that the price they’re asking for is reasonable — I think there probably will be interest,” McKinsey partner Joëlle Grunberg told Vogue Business.
On 19 February, Versace CEO Emmanuel Gintzburger presented the brand’s strategy at Capri’s investor day, outlining how the house plans to achieve its $1.5 billion revenue goal (post-2028, after a return to growth in fiscal 2027). Versace plans to revamp its product offering and consumer experience, building on the brand’s repositioning journey it embarked on two years ago. “We know we are doing the right thing elevating the brand because we’re seeing great perception from the broader client base — particularly from the luxury consumer,” Gintzburger said. “Versace has a clear road map designed to accelerate growth and reinforce its position in luxury fashion.”
The brand is in need of reinvigoration. For the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Versace’s revenues declined 15 per cent to $193 million, with the Americas down 21 per cent, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) down 13 per cent and Asia dropping 11 per cent.
In a note sent on Wednesday, TD Cowen senior retail analyst and managing director Oliver Chen outlined the firm’s key needs from Versace: recruit a broader luxury base, and balance new and existing engagement from high-net-worth individuals and aspirational consumers.
Versace is still in the zeitgeist. Its global database increased by 1.1 million new consumers, which represents 15 per cent of its total growth over the last year. Also in 2024, Versace garnered a total of $1.2 billion in media impact value (the monetary value of posts, article mentions and social media interactions), growing 5 per cent year-on-year and ranking among the top 10 global luxury brands, per Launchmetrics. The brand dropped three spots in the Q4 Lyst index to 14th place after sitting at sixth place in Q2’s top 10. In Q4, brand highlights included the launch of the Versace Tag bag, also the focus of its Zepeto, Bitmoji and Drest takeovers (a bid for younger audiences); a new Cillian Murphy and Anne Hathaway ‘Icons’ campaign; and the launch of the Kun and Rosy Zhao holiday campaign.
That said, onlookers have a hard time defining who exactly the Versace consumer is, particularly post-2018, following Capri’s Michael Kors acquisition. “Now it’s a huge commercial beast that lacks the whole storytelling that made it Versace [back in the day],” says fashion critic and creator Osama Chabbi, who paused when asked who the Versace consumer is today. “I feel like it’s yet to be defined,” he says. “No one really knows who’s that girl — or who’s that boy, either.”
In this transitory period, who is the 2025 Versace consumer?
Glamazons galore
Versace consumers want to make a statement, are loyal and live the “Versace lifestyle”, Hsu says. Read: a loud, glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle. Versace’s swimwear is the brand’s volume driver for Mytheresa. “Versace’s resort aesthetic performs very well, offering the perfect balance between chic poolside style and glamorous party-ready looks,” says Hsu. As far as runway pieces go, the ones that do the best are the “bold, sexy dresses” that continue to form the core of the business, she adds.
Versace has profited off of what Chabbi calls a “very specific aesthetic” of rich, over-the-top opulence, he says, noting that the brand took it to such an extreme that this made it cool. To Chabbi, though, this heyday is fading, not helped by the wave of quiet luxury. “It’s the counter-wave to them completely,” he says. “Their whole existence is the logo.”
But wealthy consumers are still buying, and, this season, loud luxury is creeping back to the fore. This year, Versace is seeing double-digit growth in the top-tier consumer, or very important customer (VIC), segment, Georgina Scholtens-Day, global VP of marketing, communications, digital and customer journey, told investors on Wednesday before teasing the debut of a new luxury line at Versace’s Milan Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2025 show.
Atelier Versace hasn’t shown since Autumn/Winter 2017. Could this new line fill the gap? Critics’ fingers are crossed. “When the couture was there, I could easily associate it with the rich and famous,” Chabbi says, of who he thinks the Versace consumer is. “Right now, I think I only associate it with the rich.”
Currently, women consumers dominate – in product and communications. One of Versace’s goals is to build its men’s market share, Gintzburger said on Wednesday, upping revenues by 25 per cent from $250 to $300 million. To do so, the brand will offer a “more complete wardrobe”, he said, focusing on tailoring and sportswear.
In a dream scenario for Chabbi, Versace would bring in a menswear creative director to steer this direction. He proposes Casablanca’s Charaf Tajer. “It’s the perfect blend.”
Young and keen
Not all of Versace’s customers are longtime luxury shoppers. There’s an aspirational aspect to the brand, especially when it comes to accessories, says Mytheresa’s Hsu.
For Spring/Summer 2025, Versace made like Gen Z favourites Miu Miu and Coach and released bag charms. Its engagements with celebrities is also central to the brand’s bid for younger clients, Scholtens-Day said on Wednesday. Stars from Dua Lipa to Olivia Rodrigo regularly wear the brand.
But for a moment, Versace lost some ground with the all-important aspirational consumer, Gintzburger told investors on Wednesday. “We might have moved a little too quickly for the aspirational client. We lost some ground here, due to our historical exposure to that consumer segment,” he explained. “However, as we have quickly adjusted our product offering – particularly in accessories and footwear – we’re starting to see some traction that gives us confidence to move forward.”
Launched in November, the Tag Bag ($1,190) already represents 20 per cent of Versace’s full-priced handbag sales, Scholtens-Day said on Wednesday, describing it as “a cornerstone of [Versace’s] growth opportunity with younger and aspirational clients”. The goal now is to grow accessories to $600 million (it’s now at $300); and scale the footwear business to $250 million (from $160).
Young Versace customers are also interested in vintage Versace. (Satenstein’s own archival Versace deep dives on Instagram are how she came to work with the brand, she told her Substack readers.) Versace is capitalising on this interest even today, with new products in vintage silhouettes. “Young clients are particularly drawn to the nostalgic, iconic designs from the ’80s and ’90s,” Hsu says.
But it’ll take more than nostalgic plays to win over young consumers, Chabbi says. In his view, what Versace needs is what Dolce Gabbana got: a Skims partnership – or a zeitgeisty, splashy project like it to break through to younger shoppers. “Versace needs a mainstream partnership. It spoke to such a young generation, and was a commercial success.”
Global runway
Globally, there’s room for growth. Versace has potential in regions including the Middle East and Asia, says Neil Saunders, managing director of Globaldata’s US retail division. (Though last quarter, both regions’ revenues did fall, they still fared better than the Americas.) “Versace has untapped potential in Asia,” Capri CFO and COO Tom Edwards told investors on Wednesday. Saunders flags that, with Asia, “an assessment needs to be made as to how well the brand fits in with consumer tastes in the region”.
This ties into what Saunders identifies as Versace’s biggest hurdle: that, despite loud luxury’s hints of return, minimalism reigns supreme. “There are a lot of consumers and markets where ostentatious displays of wealth are out. Unfortunately, that’s what Versace is largely known for.” Saunders says. This means the brand needs to get back to delivering the “fresh fashion takes” it was once known for, but have fallen off under Capri, he says.
Chabbi agrees. “Unless they find their cool again, I think they’ll be looking for their consumer for a pretty long time.”
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