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Italian fashion house Versace will launch its first luxury mobile phone, entering a blooming sector for designer brands.
The Milan-based house, a favourite with celebrities for the red-carpet, said it would launch the phone commercially in the spring.
It will show it off for the first time to select clients at a private showing during Paris Haute Couture week later this month. It did not say how much it would sell for.
Versace, which has already expanded into jewellery, watches and interior design, said it had signed a licence agreement with ModeLabs Group for the design, manufacture and distribution of the phone.
The fashion label started by the late Gianni Versace and now owned by his sister Donatella, her brother Santo and her daughter Allegra, has just presented its autumn/winter 2010/2011 menswear collection at Milan fashion week.
It is not the first fashion house to launch a mobile phone. Giorgio Armani unveiled a new sleek mobile phone in October costing around BD374 and Prada has also had a phone on the market for some time.
Designers at Milan menswear fashion week opted for comfortable and practical chic for next winter, preferring to tread a sensible path away from sharp suits and flash to woo buyers hit by the credit crunch.
Italian menswear fashion has not been spared by the global financial crisis, with sales - particularly of suits and ties - hit hard. An industry body estimates that turnover in the sector fell nearly 10 percent in 2009 to 8.3 billion euros ($11.87 billion).
In the hope that the sector will pick up again this year, many brands showing at Milan's autumn/winter 2010/2011 fashion week sought to underscore the message of value and heritage in what they proposed.
Boots were omnipresent at the shows, with slim trousers often tucked into boots that came up to the calf or knee.
