No other designer is behind as many viral awards season looks as Donatella Versace. The muse turned matriarch turned leader of the Versace dynasty couldn’t have predicted all of the looks that led to the luxury label’s earliest social media sensations, from Jennifer Lopez’s Grammy’s jungle-green dress that nearly broke the internet to Angelina Jolie’s Oscars gown with a high slit that inspired a (now defunct) Twitter account dedicated to her exposed right leg.
But Donatella is the one who took the brand that invented red-carpet dressing to Hollywood. “Every Atelier Versace red carpet [look] that we create is a unique reflection of the person wearing it,” she said in a 2016 interview with Billboard. “I want them to look their absolute best, shining brighter than they’ve ever shone before.” She added: “The red carpet is such an important moment for any star when all the eyes of the world are on them.”
At the house of Versace, designing for the global stage doesn’t follow the typical awards season calendar. It’s a full-time job as well as a state of mind, as a quote often attributed to Donatella explains that as soon as she wakes up in the morning, she’s “already thinking glamour.” For her, glamour is an around-the-clock commitment she thinks about “all the time.”
Fortunately, she still makes room in her schedule to reminisce about a few standout red-carpet star turns throughout her career, from Lady Gaga to Dua Lipa. Below, see these and 20 more Versace moments that made fashion history.
