Versace Presents New Course of Home Line With Exhibition During Design Week

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MILAN Marking the new course for Versace Home, the Milan-based brand is staging an installation at the Palazzo della Permanente during the city’s Design Week.

Donatella Versace has partnered with architects and designers Roberto Palomba and Ludovica Serafini to present the brand’s latest home collection and introduce its new outdoor line, reflecting the company’s plans to further expand the division. As reported, Versace Home was previously manufactured internally, but last year the company unveiled the first designs under a licensing agreement inked with Luxury Living, part of Lifestyle Design Group, in the fall of 2020.

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Andrea Gentilini, chief executive officer of Luxury Living Group, said the tie-up with Palomba and Serafini — who are “designers at an international level,” recognized through more than 70 international awards, including the prestigious Compasso d’Oro — was “a fundamental element” in this new chapter of Versace Home. 

Their technical knowledge and their expertise in modern design are “extraordinary, as is their ability to combine a contemporary vision of society with a detailed knowledge of the historical and cultural roots of the design world, allowing the creation of unique pieces that join together the past, present and future,” said Gentilini.

The set installation is bold, with red one of the main colors, expressed in the collection in a variety of shades across fabrics, leathers, precious silks and jacquards. Graphic works and LED walls create a dreamlike scenario.

Patterns have always been a signature of the brand and this season, La Greca, which has been seen in the most recent Versace fashion collections, is back in furniture, too, in a 3D version that is “almost architectural,” said Gentilini.

The Venus chair is refreshed with new details and the Stiletto collection is presented in total white, beige and burnt browns. Gentilini pointed to the Stiletto line, marked by furniture legs in the shape of shoe stilettos, as a bestseller, as is the V21 Signature sofa.

The La Medusa collection is displayed in an all-new vinyl covering also a reference to Versace’s latest fashion show  including a sofa, a bed and a Trono armchair.

The new Stiletto Outdoor collection will be shown in the Secret Garden of the Permanente. The base in textured
white or bronze-lacquered metal is completed with a three-dimensional weave of fabric straps, coordinated with large, cozy cushions. Cover fabrics explore bold and vivid colors such as lime green, fuchsia, Klein blue and yellow, with the same shades seen on chairs and armchairs.

The new outdoor Versace Home collection. - Credit: Federico Torra
The new outdoor Versace Home collection. - Credit: Federico Torra

Federico Torra

The home collection will be present in all of Versace’s directly operated stores around the world — in Los Angeles, New York, Miami — and is already displayed in the London and Paris units, as well as in the monobrand store that opened in Milan’s Via Durini last year. Additional store openings are in the pipeline, said Gentilini.

“In the medium term, we will continue to invest both in distribution and in product development, as well as in brand communication and marketing,” continued the executive. “We believe that the potential of Versace Home is really very important; we aspire to reach exceptional size and visibility.”

Asia, America and the Middle East, in addition to Europe, are Versace Home’s main markets, he offered. 

Versace was one of the first fashion houses to launch home interiors in 1992, focused first on textiles. Porcelain tableware collections followed, inspired by the brand’s distinctive patterns, such as the Baroque themes, the Greek frieze, the signature Medusa head and some of the prints from the fashion collections, such as the Jungle print — forever associated with Jennifer Lopez and her 2000 Grammy Awards dress.

The collection has grown to include clothing for the bedroom and bathroom, furniture, wallpaper and accessories including vases, candles and even sculptures. The agreement with Lifestyle Design pertains only to Versace’s furniture. The brand’s textiles and accessories will continue to be produced internally, while Rosenthal remains its ceramics licensee, which will celebrate a 30-year collaboration in 2023. AS Création and Gardenia will continue to produce Versace’s wallpaper and floor tiles, respectively.

In July 2020, Lifestyle Design (Poltrona Frau Group) together with Haworth Inc. acquired the storied Italian furniture and interiors design company Luxury Living Group.

 

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