In collaboration with PASSIONS, VOICE OF ASIA is proud to present timeless articles from the archives, reproduced digitally for your reading pleasure. Originally published in PASSIONS Volume 44, we present this story on the titular Dynasties of Style with some of the most prestigious names in all of fashion history, featuring throwback styles from the 2011-2012 season.
From time immemorial, there has always been something indescribably romantic, alluring, and sexy about power, fortune, and fame. It is the ultimate threesome – a combination so heady, so desirous, that nations have gone to war and people have killed one another for it. There is a lot more intrigue though, when the three elements have been kept in the family, and have grown over generations to create legendary icons that become larger than life, larger than the originator, and far much more diverse and complicated than their simple, humble origins.
The ability to see an idea through, capture the imagination of the world, make it commercially viable and sustain that viability through generations, keep up with the passing fads and trends of the eras, and above all, stick together as a family – is an amazing survival instinct that differentiates the winners from the losers in the absolutely non-compromising world of business.
Now add the dizzyingly fickle world of fashion into the equation, and you get a family that not just means business, but looks good while doing it. And which makes everyone else look and feel good while at it. Welcome to the dynasties of style, as PASSIONS opens a window to the heart of three fashion dynasties and allows you to witness the births and the evolution of these fashion legends.
VERSACE
If names could carry the quality of charisma, then Versace would be it. Today, it is virtually synonymous with glamorous international high fashion, and even before one lays eyes on its latest collections, the senses are heightened in expectation of the unexpected – with sometimes controversial but always attractive results. A family of brand variants with each having their own theme, Versace includes several parallel collections under its umbrella, including Atelier Versace, Versace Couture, Versace Jeans Couture, Versace Home Collection, Versus, and the Versace Collection. For example, Versace Couture encompasses a stella-plethora of high-end creations which include jewellery, watches, handmade apparel, cosmetics, handbags, shoes, and even home furnishings.
However, behind this larger-than-life name, lies the legacy of one man – Gianni Versace, the founder. Despite his tragic death in 1997 when he was murdered in front of his mansion, the empire he had built over two decades still lives on today – thanks to his family members who have rallied around the brand and family name.
The legacy of Gianni Versace – the founder of Versace still lives on despite his untimely death in 1997.
Born to Design
Gianni Versace was born in 1946, in Reggio Calabria, Italy, to a mother who ran a small tailor-shop. Growing up watching his mother at work, the young Versace soon displayed his own talent for designing and making apparel of his own, even selling some of them in his mother’s shop. Honing his skills over the years in this family craft, Versace soon displayed his talent to a new audience, at the age of 25 in 1972, when he designed a collection for Fiori Fiorentini, an Italian company.
After this, Versace embarked on a career in which he designed for a series of Italian fashion labels, including one called Complice, which marked the first time his own name was included in a brand name.
Bursting on the Scene
In 1978, Versace opened his first boutique in Milan, selling other labels to complement his own collections. The store was an immediate hit with the public, and grew in popularity with remarkable speed. Within a few years, Gianni Versace had boutique stores spreading throughout all the major cities of the world.
Having established his brand firmly among the exclusive club of the world’s fashion elite by the early 1980’s, Versace added a new label which catered to the less affluent and younger crowd with his Instante label, in 1985.
Trademark Style
The success of Versace’s creations owed a lot to his trademark style – sometimes described as being sexy to the point of vulgarity. Characterised by striking colours, materials and colours, he has been accused by critics of having blurred the boundaries which divide good and bad taste. A very subjective matter, choices of taste which have been controversial, shocking, and yet retentive of that elusive ‘cool’ factor, have often typified Versace’s creations.
Known for giving vague sketches of his ideas to his assistants before leaving them to formulate the details of a wearable garment, Versace’s creative style always remained an enigma.
Tragedy and Succession
The life of this man, who had brought so much joy to fashion aficionados for over two decades, was brutally cut short in 1997, when he was shot dead by a deranged gunman in front of his mansion in Miami, Florida. Completing of the cycle of madness, the gunman then committed suicide shortly after.
Till his death, Versace personally held the position of director in his company, with his sister Donatella, serving as vice-president. Upon his demise, brother Santo took over as the new CEO of Versace, with sister Donatello becoming the new head of design. The sole heiress to Gianni’s empire and fortune is Donatella’s 25 year-old daughter, Allegra.
Like mother like daughter, Donatella’s daughter, Allegra Versace has taken over the family business as the heiress to the Versace empire.
Immediately after his death, the Versace family rallied around the clarion call which proclaimed that business was to continue as before. With all of the family members having been involved in the business empire in one capacity or another, long before Gianni’s death, they were, and still are, perfectly positioned to continue the Versace label in a spirit which would have won the approval of Gianni himself. Thanks to the family pride, unity, and creativity which has been displayed by Gianni’s next-of-kin in the years since his demise, the name of Versace will live on for as long as fashion exists.
MISSONI
For well over half a century, the Italian fasion house of Missoni has been at the forefront of sartorial design ever since its founders, the husband and wife team of Tai and Rosita, first impressed fashion aficionados with their collection of embroidered knitware, and signature crochets in the early 1950’s. Today, the fashion house, under the creative leadership of the couples daughter, Angela, continues to deliver exquisite collections with characteristic Italian flair. Evolving from the early knitwear collections of Tai and Rosita, Missoni’s contemporary collections today include eveningwear, bohemian accessories, and irresistible swimwear, as part of its repertoire.
Birth of a Legacy
The Missoni story begins in the austere years of post-World War II Italy, when people had to resort to their own talents and sense of initiative to survive. Ottavio ‘Tai’ Missoni, a former pre-war international athlete and war veteran, found himself making woollen tracksuits which were so stylish and comfortable that they were adopted by the Italian national team for the 1948 London Olympics. Still a fit athlete at the age of 26, Tai himself qualified for the 400 metres hurdles race. However, this period of his life is significant for one event: he met his future wife and soul-mate Rosita, at Wembley, London.
The matriarch of the Missoni family, Rosita Missoni founded the Missoni brand with her husband, Otavio Missoni.
Marrying in 1953, the union combined Tai’s athletic sense of style and practical comfort, with Rosita’s own inherited talents – for she came from a family of shawl-makers. Quickly establishing themselves as specialists in patterned knitwear and embroidery, they worked out of a workshop in Gallarate, northern Italy, before presenting the first collection to bear the name Missoni, at a fashion show in Milan in 1958.
Sensational Attention
From the very earliest days, their talent for creating unique knitwear in colourful patterns, from a variety of fabrics, drew the attention of perceptive and knowledgeable people in the apparel business. Soon after their successful debut at Milan, the Missoni business prospered with the support and encouragement of the legendary Italian fasion editor and style icon, Anna Piaggi.
And then came a moment of notoriety which, like all such incidents in the history of glitz, glamour, and entertainment – including fashion, could make or break an upcoming brand. In Missoni’s case, it took them to a new level of superstardom. The momentous turning point came to the house of Missoni at the Pitti Palace fashion show in Florence in 1967.
Rosita, in an effort to draw attention away from the mismatched colours of her models’ bras, which were showing through their thin lamè blouses, told them to remove them altogether. However, the material became transparent under the bright lights, and caused a sensation. Though the Missoni’s were not extended an invitation the following year, the fame – or infamy – made them a name to remember.
Brand Established
With their creations being featured by Vogue magazine, the Missoni’s opened their first boutique in Bloomingdales in the late 1960’s. By the 1970’s the name of Missoni was well established in the fashion world, with their influence extending to include carpets and tapestries. Having spent a lifetime building the formidable reputation of Missoni, Rosita handed over control of the family business to her daughter, Angela, in 1998, who subsequently became Missoni’s Creative Director. Not to be left out, the other children are also custodians of their family legacy. Eldest son Vittorio, is Missoni’s Marketing Director, while Luca, the second son, is sometimes involved in the design of the menswear collections.
The Legacy Continues
Today, the Missoni knitwear style is noted for its multitude of patterns, incorporating stripes, geometrics, and abstract florals swathed in a kaleidoscope of colours. The brand is also known for its liberal use of an eclectic mix of fabrics, such as wool, cotton, linen, rayon, and silk.
While the brand has diversified into a variety of luxury goods, including contemporary collections of fashion accessories, eveningwear, and even beachwear, the children of Tai and Rosita have ensured that the core niche of uniquely patterned knitwear, an area of skill and creativity in which they first made a mark more than half a century ago, has never been abandoned.
LVMH
Among the pantheon of names which grace the halls of high fashion, perfume, and the very best of champagne, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Moët Hennessy loom large. Controlling Christian Dior, and French conglomerate LVMH – the world’s largest fashion and luxury-goods group – which owns some 50 well known brands including the names just mentioned, as well as a range of very famous champagnes – is a super entrepreneur by the name of Bernard Arnault. Declared by Forbes Magazine to be the world’s fourth richest person, as well as the richest person in Europe in 2011, Arnault is estimated to have a net worth of US$41b. As Chairman and CEO of LVMH, Arnault, along with his three sons, now heads the largest luxury-products company in the world.
The Quest for Wealth
Born in Roubaix, France, in 1949, Arnault joined his father’s construction and real estate company after graduating with an engineering degree from the École Polytechnique in 1971. By 1979, the 30 year old Arnault succeeded his father as president of the company. After migrating to the US in 1981, Arnault dabbled unsuccessfully in the construction industry, before returning to France three years later.
Displaying from his earliest years a talent for shrewd acumen and the ability to focus on the most lucrative of business projects, Arnault started his second sojourn in France by becoming the CEO of Financière Agache, a luxury goods company. This event was also significant for another reason, for it marked his entry into the world of designer label luxury products.
Taking advantage of assistance provided by French bank Lazard Frères et Cie, Arnault – with a predatorial instinct which was to become his trademark business trait – acquired a struggling textile company. This was achieved by pooling US$15m contributed by the Arnault family, with a reported US$80m supplied by the bank. Arnault then sold most of his luxury company assets, keeping only the prestigious Christian Dior brand, and the Le Bon Marché department store.
The Brand Collector
In 1987, Arnault exploited inter-brand rivalries to acquire both champagne brand Moët Hennessy and designer label Louis Vuitton. Along with them, LVMH also acquired property rights to Christian Dior. In order to market his champagne and cognac interests, Arnault created a holding company in which he held 60% ownership, along with a 40% interest held by Guinness, which had distribution rights with Moët-Hennessy. Ever the shrewd businessman blessed with a perfect sense of timing, Arnault capitalised on the stock-market crash of 1987 to take control of the LVMH group. By 1989, after purging most of its previous executives, Arnault took over LVMH as its CEO and Chairman, while appointing his own father, Jean Leon Arnault, as Chairman of the Supervisory board.
After this corporate coup d’état, Arnault then went on to acquire almost 11% of France’s largest supermarket retailer, Carrefour, through his company, Blue Capital. Since then, Arnault has gone on to transform LVMH into one of the largest luxury groups in the world, sharing the global market pie with Swiss luxury giant, Richemont, and French based PPR Group.
His Dynasty
Arnault, who has been twice married, is the father of five children. Delphine, his daughter, is actively involved in management activities in the LVMH Group, including being the deputy GM of Christian Dior. Harry Seaman, his nephew, is also actively involved in LVMH by overseeing sales operations. With such a large business empire, LVMH, which is also a custodian of some of the most famous brand names in international fashion, is truly the embodiment of the Arnault family dynasty. While it undoubtedly has the corporate infrastructure to sustain itself for many years to come, LVMH will always be a testament to one man’s insatiable drive to acquire the very best – and that man is Bernard Arnault.
Throughout the ages, fashion dynasties have always revolved around a creative passion – a passion fed by a surge of inspiration surging out from a founding patriarch – such as Gianni Versace, or a matriarch, or both – as in the case of the house of Missoni. Despite the fame, glamour, and fortune accrued, all of these dynasties stood upon the pillars of genuine artistic talent – such as the skillful embroidery of both Tai and Rosita Missoni, or the ability to conceptualise and capture in the mind’s eye, a revolutionary new sartorial design, as was the case with Gianni.
Then there are dynasties which sprouted out from a single-minded pursuit – bordering on the obsessive – of all things representative of the iconic, the luxurious, and the qualitative – as was the case with Bernard Arnault. Whatever their initial well-springs of inspiration were, all dynasties have one thing in common – a sense of common purpose to strive and sustain the core values of their founders, through the generations, making them commercially successful entities. That, in the end, is a true testament of a brand par excellence.
