Fashionable Lifestyle

P. Ramakrishnan looks at the various and always colourful faces of Versace.

Starting as a boutique in 1978, Versace has grown in strength and stature. The couture house now encompasses lifestyle hotels and interior ranges from Versace Home Collection to Palazzo Versace. Some highlights include:

Palazzo Versace Designed and decorated by Versace, Palazzo Versace in Australia is reminiscent of the glorious days of the late Renaissance. Featuring baroque art and architecture, the 205-room luxury hotel (with 72 villa suites) is unlike any other in the southern hemisphere, its ornate ceilings, decorative walls and luxurious finishing seem to have been plucked from European palaces and transported to the Gold Coast.

Indubitably, the most notable feature is the lush colour and fabric, a lavish indulgence that's authentic to Versace's Italian extravagant lifestyle and spirit. The building is an edification of the Maison's signature design, heritage and furnishing flair, translated through every detail of its product offering, combined with Italian architecture and craftsmanship.

"The hotel and the homeware are really ways of bringing the Versace world to life," says Donatella Versace. "If you visit the home of the House in Via Ges? Milan, you will find that the Versace Palazzo is decorated in a style featuring motifs that recall the Greeks and Romans, combined with baroque-style prints and Renaissance decorative flourishes. These designs appear on furniture, furnishings and crockery, and this opulent look is further mixed with harder, more graphic pieces incorporating ultra-modern materials and slick leatherwork.

"This kind of interior design and these pieces of furniture - and anything else we do in the area of lifestyle, such as mobile phones, fragrances and jewellery, simply express the Versace look in another way; in a way that is different to the fashion collections, but no less Versace."

The Milano Residences Versace's first designer condominium in Southeast Asia opens in the Philippines capital Manila in 2015. Those wanting to immerse themselves in the Versace lifestyle can select from the 340 one- or two-bedroomed units. There are also The Penthouses, The Townhouses, and Italian-inspired units called The Loggias, with breathtaking private plunge pools. The brand's Greek motif will be seen in the grand lobby, hallways, lounge, library, pool, garden and spa.

Home Furnishing Like thrones made for emperors, most furnishing from Versace has a regal, antique air about it that's a hybrid of intelligent modern technique (laser cutting) and traditional print (the omnipresence of the house's Greek logo).

Most prominent in their latest collection is the emergence of metal, a notable link throughout the collection, exemplified in the gilt strip - shiny, satin or chromium plated - which recalls the asymmetric cuts on Versace clothes, resulting in a graphic interpretation of the house's signature logo.

When it comes to fabric, furniture material and cushions, opulence is key; leathers, velvets, satins and silk, shiny laminated textiles, and technical fabrics with lacquer effects. The colour palette goes from vibrant blues to lacquered red, from a golden yellow to an elegant pearl gray.

Table Treasures When it comes to Versace's table manners, it seems apt the range is called The Vanity collection. Heavy on gold colours, the iconic Versace motif is highlighted in the porcelain pieces, patterns that reinforce Versace's Art de la Table. That gilt-edged decoration is unmistakable as are the vibrant colours. The introduction of a traditional Italian "Panettone" (sweet bread loaf originally from Milan) plate and dessert plates were launched for the festive season, with colour motifs in red, gold and white.