DE0929

Project Research

Samantha Louise Hedley - Fashion Communication

Contents

Introduction

Methodol-

Chapter 1

The productTarget audienceCompetitors

Chapter 2 Beneficial effects

Location of sales & market

Luxury market analysis Driving the consumer

Conclusion

Introduction 

The aim of this research project is to create a visual document based around the idea of a dedication book for the fashion brand Versace. The purpose of this document will be to explore the idea of brand publications, and to jus-

tify the reasoning behind the idea of a new one.The book will be exclusive to Versace fans as it will only be sold via the

company website and throughout their worldwide stores. The concept of the book is to give dedicated Versace buyers something to keep with them at home; this will enable them to access the history behind the brand and to give them a

catalogue of beautiful imagery from previous collections and the Gianni years.

 The book will serve as a tool to describe the excitement of the brand, the hustle and bustle of their back stage shows and the short but fascinating life of the brands founder Gianni Versace. It will also explore the life that sur-rounds its new chief of design Donatella and her most recent business ven-

tures. The reader will be introduced to the creators of Versace with chapters containing personal photos and past interviews with the family. The exciting thing about this book is that it will be like no other publication already

created for the brand, as it will feature many ideas previously uncombined in a fashion book. 

From the research collected this year it has been discovered that there are people willing to spend money on a book created by a popular fashion brand.

Out of the 100 people who took a recent survey about fashion brands, 97 people indicated that they would be willing to pay for a book that was exclusively made by their favourite design house. When asked if they would be interested in buying a book exclusive to Versace 89 people indicated that they would be willing to invest in the idea. From this survey it has been indicated that many people are unaware of the background surrounding popular fashion houses that they admire. Out of 100 people who took the survey 57 people advised they were oblivious to their favourite fashion designers childhood, education and

the brands discovery.  

As a lot of people cannot afford the clothes that design houses create, a book which can introduce them to a series of collections created by the design-

ers would become a treasury of all the creations they have longed for over the years, but were unable to access. The idea of a bound Versace book holding im-ages of campaigns, advertisements, personnel photos and memorabilia, fashion shows and celebrities that could be kept on a shelf, accessible at any time,

is like holding a piece of history from a much loved brand. 

Gianni Versace founded the brand in 1978 when he opened his first boutique in Milan’s Via della Spiga - today Versace is one of the worlds leading fash-ion brands and specializes in international fashion, luxury accessories, home furnishings and cosmetics. The brand has a number of design specialisms under various names such as  Atelier Versace, Versace Sports, Versace Couture, Ver-sace Home Collection, Versace Collection and Versus. In addition to clothing and accessories, it also operates a hotel, the Palazzo Versace in Australia

and its newest expansion in Dubai.

The book will mark the anniversary of Gianni’s death in July of 1997 and will be released for sale 15 years since he was killed on the same date and time -

15th of July at 8:45 am GMT. 

65 years in the making

Methodology

In order to undertake this project, in depth research will be con-ducted on the Versace label and other high fashion brands. The re-search will cover past publications on Versace, publications on oth-er fashion brands such as Tom Ford, Diesel and Kenzo, photography, blogs, magazine articles, interviews, customer profiling and current fashion trends. This will enable the book to be created in a way that is completely up to date and in keeping with today’s current fashion

climate.

A series of questionnaire’s and focus groups will be held in order to obtain information on whether the concept of the book will be a suc-

cess. 

The main aims to focus on will be:

To find out if the concept of the book will attract buyers if they were to visit the Versace website, or one of their stores

To discover if people are generally interested in the Versace brand  To find out what people would expect to be involved in a book of this

sort To find out through primary research what would entice someone to buy

a book dedicated to Versace To find out what people generally know about the brand itself and its

creators What sort of experience buyers will receive when they purchase the

book through researching past *Imagery

* Interviews * Videos

* Documentaries* Publications* Interviews

* Accompanied reading sessions

The Concept 

The concept of this project is to offer fans of fashion a timeless piece of work, a book which will offer them a chronology of Ver-

sace’s work since their runway shows in the 1980’s. The book will be sold exclusively by the brand both online via their website and in

the stores across the world. 

The book will be beautifully executed and presented with Versace flair, fans will be able to recognize the brands style the moment

they open the first page. What is special about this book is it will be like no other Versace book previously released; this is because it will be exclusive to the design house and not authored by a third party. This will give the book an authentic feel and purpose for any

Versace fan. The book will involve creative layouts and innovative style pages, this way the product will not only entice Versace fans, but also at-tract all lovers of fashion. The books title will be ‘Versace: 65

Years in the Making’, this marks the birth of Gianni Versace in 1946 and will serve as the most up to date document of Versace’s history. 

To date there is yet to be a book released that covers the de-sign house’s collaboration with H&M on their ‘Versace’ and ‘Versace Cruise’ lines, and also the hiring of Christopher Kane as chief of design for the Versus range. There is no evidence that a book con-taining Versace’s newest business venture into children’s wear or tourist property currently exists either. Within ’65 Years in the Making’ there will be pages covering these topics; this will ensure that this document may be used as a completely up to date catalogue of the Versace business, as of 2012. Versace Versus and Versace Al-tier have recently debuted look books for the S/S collections of

2012, these along with past campaigns will play key ingredients for a number of the books chapters. It is this projects intention to

provide the reader with an in-depth look into these new and exciting business factors.

As well as all of the above factors it has also been discovered that a book marking the anniversary of a special date in Versace histo-ry has yet to be released. This has enabled this proposal to remain completely unique, giving it the purpose to serve as a monumental

release. 

Chapter one

The Product 

As discussed there has been an array of books published about Gianni Versace and the Versace brand, all of which include text and visuals - some solely made up of photographical imagery. However, there is yet to be a book that completely

encompasses the brands beauty through imagery and text as well sketches, runway, celebrity imagery, interviews, backstage photos, fabric sampling, magazine cov-ers, campaigns, business ventures and personal photos. Whilst a lot of books do secure elements of these ideas, there is yet to be a document released featuring an entire collection of these ideas that is completely dedicated to the brand. 

Through the execution of surveys and focus groups it has been discovered that many people feel that books solely dedicated to fashion houses are lacking ele-ments of creativity throughout them. It has been indicated that these books are generally made up of imagery accompanied by supporting text, people generally felt that the certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ fashion posses, was often a miss. 

The purpose of ’65 Years in the Making’ is to give the reader a retrospect of the imagination behind the Versace brand, this will be done so by mixing all of the above aspects together to create a spectacular display of the visionary creations of Versace. The book will be set out in chronological order, this is so that the reader can follow the success of the house and link it to key dates in its history. A focus group conducted last year suggested there are not enough books available which give the viewer an in-depth look into the work of famous fashion houses, Debbie Honeywood attended the focus group on luxury branding and observed ‘I haven’t seen many books that go into weighty detail about a brand, is always just image after image, or pages of text. It would be nice to have a balance, I think a lot of books you read these days aren’t even made by the de-

signers themselves, it’s just someone else’s opinion’ 

House of Versace: The untold story of genius, murder and survival has been the latest book to be released regarding the brand. This book was created by Wall Street journalist Deborah Ball, and describes the story and scandal surrounding Versace and includes biographical imagery. It has been described by the review website ‘The American In Italia’ as a fictitious tale of family fortune, re-

viewer Madeline Johnson writes. ‘Though Amazon promotes Deborah Ball’s “House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival” under true crime and fashion writing, the categories of family saga and popular culture might bet-ter suit the more fascinating — and surprising — parts of this smoothly-written book.’[1] The book was released in January 2011 to a sceptical audience, some commenting the review implying the book was based on hearsay rather than actual

fact. 

It is this projects intention to create a body of work which is true to the de-signers and can be used as a source of factual events rather than fiction. An-other book ‘Gianni & Donatella’ was released in September of 2007,  photographer Sante D’Orazio documented the important moment in Versace history in the fall of 1997, The A/W collection which Gianni started that year, was regretfully to be finished by Donatella.  The book is something of a masterpiece as it invokes the sorrow surrounding the show, and demonstrates visually, the new leaf the brand had to turn after its creator’s murder. With images and supporting text the

books purpose evidently is to establish a moment in time but not to delve out of the framework. 

Target Audience 

For this project there are two levels of target audience, the first level being made up of Versace fans that will comprise the pri-mary section. These people will be engage with the creation on a personal level, examples of this demographic may be fans who have followed the brand since it’s beginnings back in the 1970’s, oth-ers - possibly a more younger generation may have recently come to enjoy the brand via it’s business venture with H&M. These are also the people who will be prone to visit the Versace store and web-

site more than some and can be influenced to purchase a book on the brand. 

The secondary section will be made up of anyone who is interested in fashion and may have a curiosity about big brand names.  Others may be followers of haute couture and also those who study fash-

ion. Teachers of fashion will also make up this section as they can use the book as a study aid for lectures, university libraries fall under this umbrella as they are constantly updating student cata-

logues with new releases.

Competitors 

Research has proven that whilst there are many fashion books on the market, a lot of which are dedicated to big design houses, what is

lacking is a book which covers such a wide range of creativity, espe-cially for the Versace brand. As part of the research into this work many books have been discovered which cover elements of the brands ethos within them, but very few give a versatile look into the dif-ferent sections of the business, thus hindering the readers under-standing of the brands extent. This project plans to cover all areas of the brand, this will be done through both research and analytical thinking, and this will put this project in good stead of being a re-spected piece of work, which can be used as both a superficial prod-

uct and a learning tool. 

Large publishing companies such as Thames & Hudson, Carlton Books and Phaeton Press Ltd have published many fashion books on the market as well as previous Versace periodicals. As their books are sold to a wider market via shops and online superstores, hypothetically they

will be this proposal’s main competition. As ’65 Years in the Making’ is sold exclusively to customers via the Versace brand some customers may find it more difficult to access the product. Second hand copies of the book could be sold online via such places as eBay and Amazon in the future.  This in turn, could work against the Versace brand, making a less solid profit. However due to the exclusive nature be-hind the idea, selling it anywhere other than through the Versace

brand could somehow prohibit its unique selling point.

Chapter 2

Beneficial effects this book will have on brand 

Books are used as a source from which a person can obtain informa-tion on a desired subject, not only will this idea be used as an in-dex for Versace fans, but it will also be a fantastic learning tool for those who would like to learn more about label. Brand awareness has an advantageous effect on sales for companies, and as this book will be used as an instrument to reach out to individuals - some not necessarily familiar with the brand, it can then be used to gener-ate a larger structural fan base, thus improving sales and spreading

recognition of the Versace name. 

Versace has had a great deal of celebrity followers over the years, it’s most exciting event happening when Gianni sent Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangilista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford down the runway together. This was the first time a designer had done this and it subsequently catapulted the brand into stardom. The models

were forever present at Versace runway shows, they were known to de-cline offers from other designers in order to work for Gianni. The papers named the event ‘The Great Four’. On the fashion documen-tary ‘When models ruled the world’ narrator David Blythe describes the event as an extravaganza of flashing bulbs, adding ‘This quar-tet of supermodels set Versace back almost one hundred thousand dol-lars, but it was an investment.’[2] The affair led to the Versace

label gaining more media coverage than imaginable, and with that the models went on the star in George Michaels music video for the song

‘Freedom’ where they all wore Versace under George’s request. 

 In 1994 Gianni designed the risqué ‘safety pin’ dress which re-ceived considerable media coverage when Liz Hurley wore it to the premiere of ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. It was one of Versace’s most memorable creations and was recently voted the greatest dress of all time by the Telegraph newspaper. Remembered by millions the Telegraph recounted the occasion saying ‘The dress, which was held together with several large gold safety pins, subsequently ap-

peared in newspapers and magazines around the world and was widely credited for boosting her (Liz) profile.’ [3] These are the events which helped Versace transform itself into a household brand and

along with more recent celebrity happenings, such as the music video for Jessie J’s ‘Domino’ where the H&M ‘Versace’ range is featured throughout will all be featured within this project. Doing so will help develop chapters on how the brand has a vast celebrity appreci-ation, and in turn entice fans from a larger spectrum to procure the

book. 

Location of Sales and Market Environment

After an in depth research into the target audience, and the sta-tistics of what selling points would entice individuals to buy the book, it was important to find out how many people shopped online

as well as at boutiques. 

In the UK there is only one Versace boutique - situated in London, meaning the probability of national sales would be limited if the book were to only be sold in-store. Research from a survey conduct-ed about luxury brands and online shopping showed that out of the 86 people who took the survey all of them used the internet as a tool to shop for fashion. In today’s modern society it is probable that most people who access the internet have used it at some point to buy from a fashion company. On the website www.internetworld-

stats.com it is suggested that over 2,095,006,005 people across the world used the internet in 2011 as a device to shop on - meaning that if this proposal were to be a success it would be essential

that the book be sold via the Versace website. 

Luxury market analysis 

Currently the luxury markets impact on society is ever increasing, and the de-mand for luxury products and services is a vast growing expenditure. The cur-rent recession has had a rippling affect on many companies, but one industry that managed to power through was the luxury market. Wealthier demographics

were less likely to be affected by the economic downfall, and luxury companies have shown respect to those who were. On the website brandchannel.com one jour-nalist wrote ‘News in Australia today headlined with an article about four ma-jor Australian businesses pulling their sponsorship from the lauded Spring Rac-ing Carnival, not because they couldn’t afford it, but because of the message it sends to those who are truly struggling in these increasingly hard economic times. I suspect that ethical and moral considerations may have an impact on

the purchase of luxury goods in some markets.’ [4]

The consequences of the recession should not have a disadvantageous affect on the selling point of this project, the idea behind the book supports not only those who can afford luxury items but also  those who cannot. The book will remain priced in a region affordable to those who desire to purchase it, but

will be elegant enough to support the brands luxury identity. When the book ’20 Years: Dolce & Cabaña’ first went on sale back in 2005 it retailed at £100.00 the book was described as a masterpiece and evoked 20 years of stylish fashion. It has since sold out and can now only be purchased second hand. The publish-ers of the book ‘Five Continents’ described the book as ‘A luxurious slip-cased volume that celebrates twenty years of an incomparable partnership, drawing

together their most significant moments in fashion. It is a collection of memo-ries and iconic images which marks every step of their evolution, featuring

the work of photographers such as Steven Meisel, Mario Sorrenti and Ferdinando Scianna, and models including Gisele, Linda Evangelista, Isabella Rossellini

and Marpessa. This book is a must have for any fashion follower’. [5]

In a survey organized to find out the opinions of the luxury fashion indus-try 86 people were asked how they felt about the idea of buying luxury instead of high street. When asked if they preferred luxury over high street 84 people agreed that they did, however 66 people also indicated that they did not own a great deal of luxury simply because they could not afford it. In a focus group held with five individuals, the purpose of discovering personal opinions of luxury branding was intended. Student Rosie Cowan suggested that luxury items were particularly unattainable, remaining something that we only dream of.  ‘I can’t afford anything other than high street; the luxury industry remains some-thing of daydream to me. I do love it though, and even the small pieces that I have like my Vivienne Westwood earrings are really special. I know they were

only £60.00 but to me that’s expensive, so to me they are a luxury item, I sup-pose to others they might be seen as cheap, that’s because they can afford a

Vivienne Westwood bag or jacket.’ 

In the book Luxury Fashion Branding author Uché Okonkwo writes ‘The brand is the reason that consumers associate themselves with a luxury company. It is what creates and sustains the attraction and desire for products. The strong attachment that luxury consumers have to brands, which often defies logic, is the result of branding. Identity becomes a spring board for the perceptions

eventually developed in the minds of consumers. This is what draws consumers to luxury brands and reins their source of satisfaction.’[6]

When the focus group were asked if they thought a book costing between £50-100 from a luxury fashion store, would be worth the money student Francine Rogers en-couraged the idea implying that a book what actually be more worth while than a garment or an accessory, ‘I’d rather buy a book than piece of clothing, books are kept forever and it doesn’t matter if you put weight on, or you don’t know what to wear,  in fact a book would be a better purchase because it can keep you com-pany when you’re having a bad day and you don’t want to leave the house’. This gives us a better understanding that this project is creating an investment into

something sustainable.

Chapter 3

Driving the consumer

Consumer motivation is driven by need, emotions, and aspirations. Knowing what the customer wants out of a product is key to any busi-nesses success. Creating a desirable product which allows the cus-tomer to indulge their fantasy can lead to a brilliant brand/con-

sumer relationship. The customer needs your idea in order to satisfy their want. Building a customer conscious ethos will also help to build a successful product and enhance the brands longevity. The ways Versace can illuminate this principal is through a number of methods. An automated email service will provide prospective buy-

ers with a unique code which will allow them to preview a collection of images that will be used within the book; this will occur in the weeks leading up to it’s release. People who buy from the website, boutique or who are signed up to the Versace blog will be given the code, along with 20 lucky customers who purchased from the ‘Cruise’

line for H&M.

Martin. M Evans mentions in his book, Consumer Behaviour ‘The un-derstanding of customers’ needs and wants is one of the major un-derpinning constructs of the marketing concept. The nature of being market oriented requires organization to consider who their (best) customer might be, where they are, how to target them and with what and an important starting point is to understand what it is they re-ally ‘want’.  Along with the email code is an offer exclusive to those who purchase the book, a voucher which enables the customer to receive 10% of their next purchase from either a Versace bou-

tique or on their website. This is an idea which enables Versace to build customer rapport and to say thank you to their dedicated fans. Along with the preview of the images there will also be a video log every week which will include interviews with members of the design team and friends of the Versace’s with exclusive clips of behind the scene footage.  The first 200 customers will also receive a limited edition post card book with 9 of the images featured in the book,

and 1 with a thank you note written by Donatella and Santos.

The conclusion

‘Versace: 65 years in the making’ is offering an alternative to items more than often placed in a price range unaffordable to most, it still however remains exclusive to those who can. The book does not exclude any fan of the Versace brand as it is affordable and ap-proachable by all consumers; it also serves as an impartial method to unite all lovers of fashion, by providing a stimulating tool to

learn more about the industry and one of its leading brands. 

The basis of this research has indicated that there is a market for this type of publication as other books of this type are scarce. In order to differentiate itself from other leading brand documents

this project will have to take on innovative ways of displaying it-self and provide an original product like no other. The justifica-tion of this need has been developed mainly through secondary re-

search, showing that there is a niche in the market. 

The intention of this research was to understand how previous design

“Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, and

how you want to express it by the way you dress”Gianni Versace - Vogue 1994