Choosing a Versace Perfume

Versace perfumes are part of a line of perfumes started in the early 1980s by the famous Italian high fashion designer Gianni Versace. First, a little history about the designer:

Gianni Versace was born in the mid-1940s in the southern Italian port city of Reggio Calabria, which is known for its beaches, which have made it a popular vacation spot. Located a short boat ride from Sicily, the city boasts a thriving fishing industry and is home to a university. Versace began learning his art by helping his mother, a dressmaker in his home city. He soon began designing his own clothing lines for men and women -- and quickly became successful. (Unfortunately, Versace was killed in the summer of 1997 when he was shot by spree killer Andrew Cunanan.)

Versace's clothing designs were known for being bold, sexy and outrageous. Infomat.com has an overview of Gianni Versace as a designer and more on the history of his worldwide empire.

Started in 1982, Gianni Versace perfume was an offshoot of Versace's wildly successful career designing clothing lines and accessories for both men and women. Since many fashionistas consider fragrance to be a big part of fashion and style, it's natural that a designer would create his or her own line of perfumes -- and that's why so many have done so.

The first perfume introduced by Versace was Gianni Versace, Versace's signature scent, in 1982. (According to one perfume blog, this scent had a sweetly sexy smell with gardenia, tuberose and "honeyed flowers" and is still available on eBay.) This perfume has since been discontinued (much to the dismay of some hardcore fragrance enthusiasts), but dozens more Versace perfumes have been launched for both women and men.

Versace wasn't very prolific with releasing new perfumes until the 1990s. (Though in the 1980s, he released Versace L'Homme, a citrusy, woodsy perfume for men that is still made today. He also release V'E Versace, a spicy, rosy scent for women that has been discontinued.)

In the 1990s, Versace began releasing the jeans perfumes -- a line of very casual, fun perfumes in festive packaging that all have the word "jeans" in their names. Some of the Versace jeans perfumes include:

• Versace Blue Jeans -- a fresh, uncomplicated scent for men with notes of juniper and lavender
• Versace Red Jeans -- a simple scent for women, full of the aromas of pink and red berries
• Versace Baby Blue Jeans -- a young and spicy scent for men with hints of lime and patchouli

Versace released other "jeans" fragrances in the 1990s that have since been discontinued, but can be found on eBay. These include Versace Green Jeans, Versace Yellow Jeans and Versace Black Jeans. Other since-discontinued scents released by Versace in the 1990s include Versace Blonde for women and Versace Mediterraneum for men.

Despite the designer's death, Versace's design house continued to introduce new Versace perfumes. Here are some of the Versace perfumes released from the year 2000 up until now:

Versace Bright Crystal perfume -- this Versace perfume for women is feminine and elegant, with notes of pomegranate, peony and musk.

Versace Crystal Noir perfume -- a sophisticated, rich women's perfume designed for evening

Gianni Versace Couture perfume -- a limited edition women's perfume with jasmine, tangerine and heliotrope

Versace Woman perfume -- a playful scent with notes of berries and oakmoss

Versace Versense -- a citrusy, fresh and clean scent for men with notes of bergamot and cedar

Versace Versus perfume -- several Versace Versus perfumes have been released, including Versace Versus Time for Pleasure, for women and Versace Versus Time to Relax, for men

New Versace perfume continues to be released almost every year.

Photo credit --

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Hafdis H