Versace Embodied Is a Conversation, Not a Campaign

Art, photography, music, and film coalesce into Versace Embodied—an ongoing project presented as conversation, not campaign. On January 13, Versace released Chapter Two: a constellation of works that treats self-expression as both method and proof of life.

Chapter Two unfolds across several weeks, adding five contributors to the project’s growing roster. The new chapter brings a collective of artists including Drake Carr, Jeff Mermelstein, and Doug Ordway into the fold—each responding to Versace’s heritage through their own medium and method.

Carr’s Love Theme 4:55 (2025) pushes his kinetic interdisciplinary practice into something more communal. Known for fusing dance and live drawing to capture the energy of the body in motion he turns from the solo subject toward a circle of friends—life-sized, dreamlike, and charged with closeness.

Mermelstein’s A Night at La Scala (2025) brings street photography’s velocity into the mix. His eye catches the choreography of urban life, including its oddities, interruptions, and accidental glamor, where elegance and chaos can coexist. 

Versace Archive (1990s) is a return to the high-octane glamour Ordway helped define while working with the brand since 1990. His images hold the classic Versace polarity—strength and sensuality—without apology.

Chapter Two of Versace Embodied builds a space for artists to create without inhibition, conversing intimately with Versace to produce an original response that echoes the house’s emphasis on freedom. The project asks to be felt rather than understood, showing that Versace’s identity is always open to interpretation and reformation.