Donatella Versace has been a fashion magnet tied to her late brother’s eponymous luxury brand ever since the Italian designer convinced her to go blonde at age 11.
But her life at the billion-dollar brand is coming to an end — as chief creative officer anyway. Seven years ago, the longtime family-run brand went public and got a new CEO: John Idol — a U.S. fashion executive whose agenda of boosting sales apparently clashed with Donatella’s artistic energy.
It’s a tale as old as time: art and business do not mix.
Capri Holdings, a conglomerate of luxury brands whose portfolio includes Jimmy Choo and Michael Kors, acquired Versace for $2.1 billion in 2018.
Versace is known for its ties to Miami. The brand, like the city, has long been loved for its color and flair. Idol, on the other hand, has a style more suited for the old-money streets of Palm Beach.
Versace is far from the only luxury brand seeing annual sales slump. Global luxury sales fell 2% last year, one of the weakest years on record.
China, once an industry growth leader, saw its luxury market shrink in the fourth quarter by about a fifth year-over-year, according to Bain & Co.
My question is: Will corporate execs wipe out the creative expression that makes their brands unique in order to reduce their shareholders exposure to risk — a word the fashion industry was built on?
Investors do not like uncertainty. Donatella, in the eyes of a CEO like Idol, is a flight risk — too driven by her own bold artistic agenda, versus the classic looks he’d like to see: monotone metropolitan chic.
Before announcing her new role as brand ambassador, Donatella debuted her final line for Versace in Milan in late Feb. 2025.
“With this collection, I am not following any rules,” Donatella wrote on Instagram. “Only the rules of the Versace DNA.”
Check out the show here:
Ashley Elizabeth Miller 
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