Flying high with Versace

Donatella Versace promises that no two jets will be the same. Picture / Reuters

Fashion houses peddling the idea of luxury in glossy ad campaigns have the masses lapping up entry-level products. But Versace, advocate of the fashion-branded hotel, isn't interested in high volumes and hoi polloi.

Instead, the Italian fashion house has the jet set in its sights as it becomes the first to collude with an aviation company in creating bespoke Versace interiors for private jets.

"True luxury isn't about offering thousands of products at a low cost to the masses," says Giancarlo Di Risio, Versace's CEO. "It's about quality not quantity. Versace is based on the highest level of luxury and exclusivity and this project is the perfect marriage of both."

But place the words "private jet" and "Versace" in the same sentence and your mind immediately races to the Versace excess of old and begs the question: isn't this contrary to Versace's recent streamlined volte-face, which Di Risio spearheaded in the first place?

Of course, the man who whipped Versace into financial shape (anticipated losses for last year sliced from US$15 million [$24 million] to $US5.5 million [$8.8 million], with profits expected to be turned before this year's close) hasn't suddenly become profligate.

Private jet interiors provide a direct feed into the elusive market of the super-rich, which Versace covets.

And the private jet market is thriving. "Demand for business jets has rapidly increased over the past 10 years, partly because of the economy and partly as a result of September 11," says Mansour A. Ojjeh, president of TAG, Versace's partner in this venture, which has 30 years' experience in preparing and managing private jets.

"I don't see IBM or Coca-Cola buying a Versace interior jet," says Ojjeh. "We don't expect to attract corporations. It will be high-net-worth individuals who want something really exclusive."

Which means multimillionaires or billionaires considering large-scale private jets, such as a Global Express Bombardier, with a ticket price of US$45 million. A Versace interior on top is a cool US$10 million.

"Oil, real estate and technology" are the three markets that have spawned this excessive wealth, says TAG's managing director of aircraft interiors, Bijan Khezri. So these used-to-being-pampered high earners will expect more than a fashion house logo to part with telephone-number sums, which is why Versace promises an atelier-like experience.

"No two jets will be the same. This is a genuine bespoke service. It reminds me most of when we work on couture," says Donatella Versace.

Clients will be invited to Versace HQ for a consultation with architects and designers. They will also view the range of interior finishes, and only when the client is satisfied with of the design choices will the interior be created.

"The plane's interior is a home away from home for a jet owner. So it needs to create a sense comfort," says Donatella.

There's no telling what quantifies a homely feel for the uber-wealthy, though Ojjeh tells of one private jet having "a VIP room that all of a sudden turned into an intensive care unit, which was on a gyroscope".

It is anticipated that jets will house bars, gyms and cinema rooms - a far cry from the swivel armchair and shag-pile that constituted James Bond baddie Auric Goldfinger's private jet.

What is surprising in Versace's transformation of "pretty standard jet interiors", as Donatella terms them, into flying palaces is that gaudy and ostentatious aren't the key looks.

In line with Versace ready-to-wear, jet interiors eschew the gilt and garish print of yore in favour of simple colours and clean lines.

The monochromatic colour scheme falls to Donatella: "They are my favourite colours because it's how I see life right now. Either black or white."

"Luxury no longer means excess. It is more refined and understated now," says Di Risio. And although today's new money might not be as shouty as its 80s counterparts, more flamboyant prints and colour are available in jet decor for the less-subtle punter.

For the unabashed, old-school look-at-me-I've-made-it wealth trumpeter, jets can receive paint jobs. How about a Versace Medusa on your jet's tail-wing coupled with a go-faster-stripe of sorts in the form of Versace's recognisable classic Greek fret motif?

No matter which way you dress it, the seriously wedged like to flag-wave their wealth. The private jet has become the ultimate status symbol among the mightily well off.

That TAG approached Versace for this jet project - "We never considered another fashion house," Ojjeh says - affirms Versace's return to form among the moneyed. The glamour thunder may have momentarily been stolen by the likes of Roberto Cavalli, but all pretenders to the throne must now look on in awe.

And there's no end to uber-luxe product categories for Versace. The design team that focuses on jet interiors will look to bag commissions for private yachts and swishy cars.

You could live in a Versace bubble, if Roman Abramovich's funds had mistakenly landed in your bank account. You could holiday at the Versace Palazzo hotel on Australia's Gold Coast (Versace's Dubai resort opens in 2008) and clothe yourself, your home and your jet in Versace.

"In the same way that people no longer wear one designer head-to-toe, we don't expect people to buy into every aspect of Versace," says Di Risio.

"We are delivering a clearly defined lifestyle concept that confirms Versace as a true luxury brand. We don't want to appeal to the masses."

Of course, accessories remain a key cash cow for this fashion house. "You of course need the sandwich as well as the caviar," says Versace's licensing director, Dante D'Angelo. "But we would rather sell two thousand bags at $5000 each than sell hundreds of thousands at $200."

- INDEPENDENT