Harry Berkowitz in New York
GIANNI VERSACE, an Italian dressmaker’s son, grew up to be founder and chief designer of a half-billion-dollar fashion empire with hundreds of outlets around the world, a line of fragrances and plans to sell part of the company to the public next year.
But can that Milan-based company continue to thrive without the flamboyant designer, who was shot dead on Tuesday at age 50 on the streets of Miami’s South Beach that he helped make so fashionable and trendy?
“The Versace company is going to be thrown into considerable turmoil, at least in the beginning,” said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard’s Retail Marketing Report. “The market will have to determine whether the Versace name will continue to be as influential and as trendsetting as it has been. The problem is that Versace is a high- profile fashion icon.”
In saying that a fashion company can survive such a loss, industry analysts cited such famous fashion executives as Perry Ellis, Anne Klein and Christian Dior.
But there is also Laura Ashley, a company where problems – and millions of dollars in losses – grew for years after the founder fell down a flight of stairs and died in 1985, the year it went public. And Liz Claiborne had severe problems after the founder retired.
Even at Perry Ellis there have been dramatic changes, as the line has become more mass market and less couture since Ellis died of Aids in 1986 after a long illness.
Versace’s company should be helped by the heavy involvement of his brother, Santo (53), who is chief executive and owns 35% of the company, and sister, Donatella (42), a close collaborator and designer who holds 20% and whose husband, Paul Beck, produces the company’s advertising.
At the very least, analysts expect the death to push back tentative plans for the company to go public next year. – The Washington Post