The Devil wears Prada — or more accurately, Versace.In a move that has fashion insiders whispering and culture warriors howling, iconic Italian luxury house Versace has tapped transgender ‘influencer’ Dylan Mulvaney as the face of its latest women’s marketing campaign. The announcement during New York’s Fashion Week comes just months after Versace’s 15% global sales slump and weeks after it was scooped up by Prada in what was billed as a billion-dollar merger of European fashion royalty.Mulvaney, the TikTokker activist whose brief partnership with Bud Light in 2023 sent US suds sales into a tailspin and cost Anheuser-Busch over USD$2 billion, is now strutting the catwalk of couture. .“Versace, you are our new Bud Light,” thundered conservative pundit Megyn Kelly on X, in response to Mulvaney’s glam turn in a black Versace gown, twirling to the strains of Madonna’s Material Girl. But this isn’t beer she’s talking about, but fashion — Italian fashion — where scandal is part of the business model. Unlike Bud Light, which had pitched itself as the brew of NFL tailgates and UFC fight cards, Versace is built on controversy and pushing gender boundaries..“@Versace always makes me so flirty,” Mulvaney teased on Twitter (“X”), striking poses during Met Gala week in New York.Still, timing is everything in business as in fashion. That’s because Versace, once a glimmering beacon of gaudy glamour, has seen brighter days. Despite a post-pandemic sales surge, revenue fell 15% last year, including a 21% plunge in the Americas and an 11% fall in Asia — where, notably, affluent women remain a driving force in luxury sales and tend to be more socially conservative. It’s not clear how they’ll react to seeing a biological male as the face of women’s fashion.But that doesn’t seem to worry the brand’s marketing team, which seems more interested in making headlines than hemlines. .And who’s steering this ship? None other than the Devil herself — aka Prada Group — which acquired Versace in April in a deal valued at $1.375 billion. The plan, according to Prada CEO Andrea Guerra, is to balance Versace’s “fun and elegant assortment” and appeal to a “broader base of luxury consumers.” Meanwhile, the global luxury market is booming, bouncing back with a projected $369 billion in revenue for 2025, including a 12% rebound in China despite its ongoing trade war with the US. While no one’s likely to see a MAGA rally wrapped in Medusa logos anytime soon, the question remains: Has anyone on Versace’s marketing team ever tasted Bud Light?Because the last time Dylan Mulvaney endorsed a product, it surely left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.
