VERSACE | Italian Fragrances at the Intersection of Mythology and Sensuality

“Do not follow trends. Do not let fashion rule you. Decide for yourself who you are and how you want to live.”

— Gianni Versace

Basic Information
The Founder and the Brand’s Origins
The Brand’s Commitments
The Fragrance Range
An Interesting Aside…

Basic Information

Founded: 1978 (fragrance business launched in 1981)
Founder: Gianni Versace (Giovanni Maria Versace)
Current Chief Creative Officer: Pieter Mulier (appointed in July 2026)
Official website: https://www.versace.com

The Founder and the Brand’s Origins

The World Seen by a Child in Southern Italy

Gianni Versace was born on December 2, 1946, in Reggio Calabria, in the Calabria region of southern Italy. The city is known as part of Magna Graecia, or “Greater Greece,” the territory colonized by Greeks in antiquity. Ancient ruins and traces of mythology remain everywhere. In later years, Gianni described the place in these words.

“Reggio Calabria is the kingdom where the story of my life began. It is where, as a child, I felt the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid, and began to breathe the art of Magna Graecia.”

His family background, with a Calabrian father and grandparents of Greek descent, was likely not unrelated to the brand’s later fascination with Greek mythology. Gianni, his older brother Santo, and his younger sister Donatella are said to have regularly played among nearby ancient ruins as children. The Medusa head that later became the brand’s emblem is also said to have arisen from those childhood memories.

Another “school” for the young Gianni was his mother Francesca’s dressmaking workshop. She was a talented dressmaker well known locally, and her workshop had grown into something of a boutique in Reggio Calabria. Gianni grew up amid the sound of silk being cut, the vibration of sewing machines, and the rustle of taffeta, developing a deep understanding of fabrics, patterns, and artisanal craftsmanship. In a 1977 interview, he said that he had learned how to work from his mother’s haute couture business.

Leaving for Milan

Gianni studied architecture in Calabria from 1964 to 1967, then began working seriously in his mother’s atelier between 1968 and 1972. He moved to Milan in 1972 and worked as a freelance designer for three companies: Callaghan for knitwear, Genny for sportswear, and Complice for high-quality ready-to-wear.

When he sat down with an Interview magazine journalist in 1977, Gianni had become the designer with Italy’s largest womenswear business only five or six years after arriving in Milan. When the journalist called him a miracle of Italian fashion, he reportedly laughed lightly and replied:

“What do you mean, a miracle? I have a proper background. And I worked very hard.”

The Birth of Versace

In 1978, Gianni opened his first boutique on Via della Spiga in Milan and formally launched the Gianni Versace brand. From the outset, it operated as a family business. His older brother Santo handled business and finance, while his younger sister Donatella joined as a creative assistant. Gianni had summoned Donatella to his side while she was still attending university in Florence.

Gianni described his aesthetic as a fusion of classicism and sexuality: the Mediterranean sensuality he had sensed among Calabria’s ruins combined with the sophisticated craftsmanship he had honed in Milan. His designs were sometimes criticized as “vulgar” and at other times praised as revolutionary. Yet in a 1985 Vogue interview, he declared:

“I like things that are different. I like breaking barriers. I think a designer’s responsibility is to try to break rules and barriers.”

The “3G” Era and the Making of a Fashion Empire

From the 1980s into the 1990s, Gianni, Giorgio Armani, and the late Gianfranco Ferré were known as the “3G” and led the Italian fashion world. Gianni’s fashion shows were staged like rock concerts, with celebrities such as Madonna, Princess Diana, Elton John, and Tina Turner in the front row. His Autumn/Winter 1991 collection brought together Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, among others, and is said to have helped create the “supermodel” phenomenon.

He presented his first haute couture collection in 1989. That same year, he also designed costumes for the San Francisco Opera, extending his activities beyond fashion. The business continued to expand into fragrances, accessories, and home collections, forming a truly global luxury empire by the mid-1990s.

A Tragic End

Gianni is said to have been diagnosed with a rare cancer of the inner ear in the mid-1990s. As he underwent treatment, he increasingly entrusted the business to his family. On the morning of July 15, 1997, he was shot dead by serial killer Andrew Cunanan outside his Miami Beach mansion. He was 50. Eight days later, Cunanan took his own life in the houseboat where he was hiding.

Gianni’s death was one of the greatest shocks to the fashion world in the twentieth century. From December that year through March 1998, the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art held a retrospective of his work.

Donatella, the Successor

After Gianni’s death, his younger sister Donatella took over the brand’s creative direction. The industry’s initial judgment was harsh, and some reportedly dismissed her as merely her brother’s muse. Yet over approximately 27 years in the role, Donatella took the brand to new heights and established a position of her own.

In March 2025, Donatella announced that she would step down as Creative Director and become Chief Brand Ambassador. In her statement, she said:

“The greatest honor of my life has been to continue carrying on my brother Gianni’s legacy.”

She was succeeded by Dario Vitale, formerly Design and Image Director at Miu Miu. In December of the same year, Prada Group completed its acquisition of Versace. The enterprise value announced for the transaction was €1.25 billion. In the creative division, leadership by someone outside the founding family had begun for the first time in the brand’s history.

The Brand’s Commitments

A Philosophy of Fragrance Creation

A consistent philosophy in Versace’s perfumes is a direct appeal to the senses. Rather than excessive intellectualism, they project sensuality, boldness, and joy: the same qualities Gianni embodied when he said that fashion was happiness.

Since Versace sold its former in-house division, Giver Profumi, to the Italian fragrance and cosmetics manufacturer EuroItalia at the end of 2004, EuroItalia has handled fragrance planning and production as the exclusive licensee. In 2021, a further fifteen-year extension of the relationship was announced. The business has continued to grow into one of the world’s largest designer luxury fragrance operations.

Its perfumer collaborations include leading noses such as Alberto Morillas (Bright Crystal, Yellow Diamond, Dylan Blue, and others), Aurélien Guichard (Eros), Jean-Pierre Béthouart (The Dreamer), and Calice Becker (Dylan Blue Pour Femme). Particularly noteworthy is Morillas, sometimes called a “god of perfumery,” who has created several of Versace’s iconic fragrances.

Bottle and Packaging Design

Versace perfume bottles share a visual language with its fashion collections. Almost every bottle bears the Medusa emblem, with Baroque lettering and sculptural decoration.

The Crystal collection establishes individual identities within a shared jewel-like palette and silhouette: Crystal Noir has black glass and a large faceted cap, Bright Crystal is pink, and Yellow Diamond is yellow. The turquoise Eros bottle visually pays homage to the Mediterranean and Greco-Roman culture. Dylan Turquoise continues Versace’s design codes with frosted blue glass, a pale-gold aluminum cap, and a Baroque-inspired Medusa engraving.

The Fascination with Medusa

Why Medusa? Rather than focusing on the tale of a Greek mythological monster who turned onlookers to stone, Gianni was drawn to her overwhelming beauty and allure. “Once your eyes meet hers, you cannot turn away”: that was a metaphor for the customer experience Versace desired. He retained the memory of seeing Medusa imagery among ancient ruins in Calabria as a child and later adopted her as his own symbol. His Miami mansion’s pool is also said to have featured a Medusa mosaic based on traditional depictions in ancient Roman and Greek art.

Another icon, the Greek key or meander, became part of the brand’s DNA after first appearing in the Autumn/Winter 1988 collection.

The Fragrance Range

The Early Fragrance Business (1981–1990s)

Versace released its first perfume in 1981. Named Gianni Versace for Women, it had a rich, predominantly floral composition and is said to have embodied the brand’s sensual aesthetic. It entered men’s fragrances with Versace L’Homme in 1986 and introduced V’E in 1989.

The 1990s brought a series tied to the brand’s casual line, including Blue Jeans (1994, for men) and Red Jeans (1994, for women).

One representative creation from this period still discussed today is The Dreamer (1996). Composed by Jean-Pierre Béthouart, this men’s fragrance is an amber fougère with top notes of lavender, sage, and mandarin over a base of tobacco blossom, amber, and tonka bean. Its distinctive marriage of sweetness and dry tobacco has won many fragrance lovers, and it remains on collectors’ shelves as a 1990s classic.

The Crystal Collection (2000s Onward)

Introduced in 2004, Crystal Noir is a dark oriental floral that Versace described as “magical,” both ethereal and carnal. Centered on gardenia, said to be Donatella’s favorite flower, it opens sensually with ginger, cardamom, and pepper before settling into a warm base of musk, sandalwood, and amber. Its black glass bottle and large, jewel-like faceted cap embody the glamorous presence of a woman heading to an evening gala.

Released in 2006, Bright Crystal was positioned as the “light” counterpart to the “dark” Crystal Noir. Created by Alberto Morillas, it begins with yuzu, pomegranate, and an icy accord, moves into an airy floral heart of peony, magnolia, and lotus, and finishes with a warm base of amber, musk, and mahogany. As its pink bottle suggests, it was designed to evoke the radiance of a confident woman and remains one of Versace’s most widely loved fragrances.

Yellow Diamond joined the range in 2011. Also created by Alberto Morillas, it moves from a sharp opening of bergamot, citron, neroli, and pear sorbet into a soft floral heart of orange blossom, freesia, mimosa, and water lily, followed by a woody base of amberwood, musk, and palo santo. The brand describes it as sunlight captured in a bottle.

These three fragrances, Crystal Noir, Bright Crystal, and Yellow Diamond, form a cohesive world as the Crystal collection and constitute Versace’s core women’s fragrance line.

The Eros Line (Since 2012)

Released in 2012, the men’s Eros is a fragrance Donatella describes as the brand’s very DNA. Named after the Greek god of love and desire, its turquoise bottle reflects the Mediterranean and ancient Greek and Roman culture.

“Eros is the very DNA of the house of Versace. The Greek motifs evoke ancient Greece and mythology, and the turquoise color represents the Mediterranean. That is Versace!”

— Donatella Versace

Aurélien Guichard’s composition consists of fresh top notes of mint oil, green apple, and Italian lemon, a heart of tonka bean, ambroxan, and geranium, and a rich base of vanilla, Virginia cedar, and vetiver. Its distinctive profile, combining sweetness and green freshness within a men’s fragrance, quickly became a global hit.

The world of Eros later expanded into Eros Flame, an eau de parfum (EDP). Donatella described the scent as follows.

“The true love everyone seeks captures the soul, the body, and the heart and does not release them for even an instant. It is true love that burns everything in a flame of eternal passion.”

The Dylan Blue Line (Since 2016)

Released in 2016, Dylan Blue Pour Homme is an aquatic fougère also composed by Alberto Morillas. It moves from top notes of Calabrian bergamot, watery notes, and grapefruit to a spicy heart of black pepper, patchouli, and violet leaf, finishing with incense, musk, and tonka bean. Conceived around “modern masculinity,” it is said to express a more restrained sensuality than Eros and is appreciated for a versatility that also feels natural in business settings.

Dylan Blue Pour Femme followed, as did the sustainability-focused Dylan Turquoise. Composed by Sophie Labbé, the latter uses ingredients that are 85% biodegradable and packaging made from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified raw materials, reflecting a contemporary awareness of sustainability.

An Interesting Aside…

Donatella Wears Four Fragrances at Once

In a 2018 interview with AnOther magazine, Donatella Versace revealed that she layers four fragrances at a time. Details of the combination have not been made public.

The Medusa Pool at the Miami Mansion

The outdoor pool at Gianni’s Miami Beach mansion, now open to the public as a hotel, is said to have been covered with a Medusa mosaic following traditional depictions in ancient Greek and Roman art. The image of Medusa he saw among ruins as a child was thus inscribed even in his final home.

The Connection with Morillas, a “God of Perfumery”

Alberto Morillas, who has composed many of Versace’s fragrances, is regarded as a godlike figure in perfumery and is said to have created at least 500 perfumes for brands including Bvlgari, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Le Labo. The number of his collaborations with Versace indicates how strongly the house has insisted on working with the world’s finest noses in fragrance creation.

2025: The Twilight of the Versace Family Era

With Donatella’s departure in March and the acquisition by Prada Group later that year, 2025 marked the end of almost half a century in which the Versace family directly led the brand. Dario Vitale, who had joined as the new Creative Director, also left at the end of that year, and Pieter Mulier became Chief Creative Officer in July 2026. The future direction of the brand’s fragrances will be worth watching as well.

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