The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978.[3][4] In 1994, the brand gained widespread international coverage due to the "Black Versace dress of Elizabeth Hurley", referred to at the time as "that dress".[5][6][7]
After the death of Gianni Versace in 1997 his sister Donatella Versace, formerly vice-president, took over as creative director and his older brother Santo Versace became CEO.[8] Donatella's daughter Allegra Versace was left a 50 percent stake in the company, which she assumed control of on her eighteenth birthday