The Designer Will Serve as Chief Creative Officer of an Independent Venture, With Beauty Set to Lead Its First Launch
Donatella Versace is beginning her next chapter — and it will be on her own terms.
The designer has partnered with Revolve Group to create a new independent fashion and beauty business, marking her most significant move since stepping away from the creative leadership of Versace after nearly three decades.
Versace will serve as Chief Creative Officer of the as-yet-unnamed venture, overseeing its creative identity, products, collaborators and broader cultural direction. Revolve will provide the infrastructure behind the business, including technology, digital commerce, consumer intelligence, operations, marketing and access to its global network of consumers and creators.
The first launch will be in beauty, with the name and full creative concept set to be revealed in the coming months. Fashion will form part of the broader business.
“I believe creativity should be fearless, inclusive and alive in the world,” Versace said. “I have always been inspired by the next generation, in music, film, art and, of course, fashion.”
“This partnership gives me the freedom to speak to that generation in a completely new and personal way, through beauty and fashion,” she continued. “Revolve understands something I believe deeply: culture comes from connection. Together, we want to create that connection with a new voice, a new look and a new energy.”
The partnership is particularly notable because it separates Versace the designer from Versace the house.
For almost three decades, her creative identity was inseparable from the company founded by her brother Gianni Versace. She assumed creative leadership following his death in 1997 and went on to shape the house into one of fashion’s most recognizable global brands, building on its glamour, sexuality and celebrity connections while developing her own position as one of the industry’s most visible designers.
Now, rather than immediately attaching herself to another established fashion house, Versace is building something new.
Revolve provides a distinctly different platform through which to do it. Founded in 2003 by Michael Mente and Mike Karanikolas, the Los Angeles-based company built its business around digital retail, social media, influencers and experiential marketing, particularly among Millennial and Gen Z consumers. Its portfolio includes Revolve and luxury retailer FWRD, alongside relationships with more than 1,600 emerging, established and owned brands.
That infrastructure will become the commercial engine behind Versace’s new venture.
“Donatella is one of the defining creative voices of our time,” said Michael Mente, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Revolve Group. “This partnership gives that vision an entirely new platform and the freedom to build something from the ground up.”
Mike Karanikolas, Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, said the combination of Versace’s creative authority with Revolve’s technology, infrastructure and global reach provides an opportunity to build the business for the long term.
The structure also points toward a different model for Versace herself. Rather than working solely as a designer producing seasonal collections, the new company is being conceived as a broader cultural and commercial platform spanning fashion, beauty, entertainment, talent, creators, content and experiences.
It is an approach that plays directly into the way Versace has operated throughout much of her career. Her influence has extended well beyond clothing through longstanding relationships across music and entertainment, including collaborations and friendships with figures ranging from Prince and Elton John to Madonna, Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa.
Perhaps the defining example remains Jennifer Lopez’s appearance at the 2000 Grammy Awards in Versace’s green jungle-print dress. The extraordinary volume of online searches for images of the look was later cited by Google as part of the impetus for developing Google Images.
Revolve is betting that this ability to generate cultural moments can be translated into a digitally native business built for a younger consumer.
“Donatella has an extraordinary instinct for what the next generation wants and an unmatched ability to connect fashion with culture,” said Raissa Gerona, President of Brand and Partnerships at Revolve Group. “That is what makes this partnership so exciting.”
The initial geographic strategy is also notably global. The venture plans to launch across the United States, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, with additional markets potentially following as the business develops.
Europe is conspicuously absent from that initial rollout. Instead, the partners are beginning in markets where Revolve’s digitally driven model and Versace’s international recognition provide an existing foundation from which to build.
Much remains deliberately undisclosed. There is no brand name yet, no first product reveal and no detailed timetable beyond the expectation that the first launch will begin with beauty.
But the structure itself makes the ambition clear.
After spending nearly 30 years carrying forward one of fashion’s most recognizable family names, Donatella Versace is starting again — this time with a business designed around her own creative identity.