After intense weeks of Fashion Week culminating on March 13, 2025, Versace announced today that Donatella Versace is stepping down as creative director, replaced by Dario Vitale. The news sent shockwaves through the fashion world, marking the end of an era for the Italian house. Donatella had helmed Versace since the tragic murder of her brother Gianni in 1997, transforming it into a global symbol of glamour and audacity. Her final show at Milan Fashion Week weeks earlier now feels like a poignant farewell. Let’s revisit five cultural milestones that define her legendary career.
1. Jennifer Lopez’s Iconic Versace Dress
Perhaps no single garment has had as profound an impact on both fashion and the internet as the green jungle-print dress Jennifer Lopez wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards. With its plunging neckline and tropical motif, the dress ignited such intense public curiosity that it prompted the creation of Google Images. Donatella Versace cleverly referenced this moment in 2019, when she brought Lopez out as the surprise finale of the Versace spring-summer 2020 show in Milan. Lopez emerged in an updated version of the dress, and the internet exploded once again. The image of Lopez striding down the runway became one of the most shared fashion moments of the decade, cementing the symbiotic relationship between celebrity and brand.
2. The Homage to Gianni Versace and the Supermodels
In the early 1990s, Gianni Versace pioneered the concept of the supermodel. For his autumn-winter 1991 show, he gathered a quintet of models who had appeared in George Michael’s iconic “Freedom! ’90” video: Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford. Their collective appearance on a single runway was unprecedented and coined the term “supermodel” forever. Twenty-six years later, in 2017, Donatella paid tribute to her late brother and that moment by reassembling the surviving supermodels — Naomi, Cindy, Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Helena Christensen — for the finale of her spring-summer 2018 show. Dressed in gold lamé, they walked hand in hand while Donatella led them with quiet pride. The applause lasted minutes, and images of the emotional reunion were syndicated worldwide.
3. The Creative Partnership with Dua Lipa
Few celebrity-designer collaborations have been as fruitful as the one between Donatella Versace and pop star Dua Lipa. Beginning in 2021, when Lipa wore custom Versace to the Grammy Awards — a pink crystal-embellished dress and stage look — the relationship deepened. Lipa appeared on the Versace runway in Milan in September 2021, and in May 2023 the duo co-designed the “La Vacanza” collection, presented on the French Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival. The collection married Versace’s signature glamour with Lipa’s retro-pop sensibility: butterfly prints, neon colors, chainmail, and corsetry. The show was a media sensation, attracting A-list attendees and generating millions of social media impressions. It proved that Donatella could still tap into youth culture and redefine the house’s codes for a new generation.
4. Blake Lively’s MET Gala Tour de Force
The MET Gala has become fashion’s Super Bowl, and Blake Lively has been one of its biggest stars in Versace. In 2018, she wore a custom red Versace gown with gold embellishments, a Roman-inspired headpiece, and a thigh-high slit. The dress took 600 hours to embroider and instantly became the most talked-about look of the night. Four years later, in 2022, as co-chair of the event, Lively made an even more dramatic entrance. Her Atelier Versace gown initially appeared in copper tones reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty, but when she undid two oversized bows, the skirt transformed into a blue train. The live outfit change — a stunt first popularized by Lady Gaga in 2019 — was engineered with meticulous precision and went viral within minutes. Donatella’s ability to create such cinematic moments through custom gowns proved why she remains one of the most sought-after red-carpet designers.
5. The Versace x Fendi Collaboration
In September 2021, Versace and Fendi staged a joint runway show in Milan. It was an unprecedented collaboration between two storied Italian houses, each with distinct identities. Donatella Versace and Silvia Venturini Fendi co-designed the collection under the direction of Kim Jones (then creative director of Fendi’s women’s collections). The result was a fusion of Versace’s rock-and-roll edge (gold safety pins, chainmail, mini-dresses) and Fendi’s timeless elegance (sheath dresses, monogrammed coats). The show was a media juggernaut, with the fashion press praising its clever synthesis of archives. It underscored Donatella’s willingness to push boundaries and collaborate, even as her own tenure entered its twilight. The collection quickly sold out and remains a collector’s item.
As Donatella Versace passes the baton to Dario Vitale, her impact on fashion and pop culture is undeniable. From redefining red-carpet glamour to embracing digital-era virality, she has left an indelible mark that will influence designers for decades to come.
Source: Numéro News