Can someone identify this Gianni Versace Belt?

[Almighty1]

Greetings everyone:

I received this Gianni Versace belt as a gift over 5 years ago from a friend who lives in Beverly Hills. Does anyone know what is the style name of this black/brown belt and also how much it retailed for and what belts and price Versace makes currently would be comparable to it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[j]

Pic's not working for me.

 

[Almighty1]

Hope it works this time around. If it doesn't, anyone got any good free image hosting sites?

 

[rach2jlc]

Try www.photobucket.com

As for the belt, I don't know the particular model number, but if it says "Gianni Versace" on the back, it is from the high-end accessories collection (which currently is just called "Versace," the "Gianni" having gone by the wayside a few years back). I have a few belts from this line and they're very nice. In fact, the buckle on yours is different from mine, but the belt leather itself looks similar.

If it is from this line, it should have the model number near the size marking and the GIANNI VERSACE label (the number will be something like MADE IN ITALY, then GIANNI VERSACE, then SIZE ((mine is 90/36)) then the number (one of mine is B30206.)

In terms of pricing, they generally ran $225-300 for the regular leather. That one was probably $250 or thereabouts.

It might help to get a few more pics, especially of the inside stamping/label and such. There are SO many Versace fakes out there that without seeing that (or seeing the belt in person and feeling the leather) I don't want to say too much.

 

[Almighty1]

Is the "Gianni Versace" on the back of the belt or the buckle? The buckle doesn't have anything except "Made in Italy" on the side. The brown side of the belt does have "Gianni Versace" from what I remember but the "Made in Italy" is on the side of the buckle and there is no size printed so could it be that the size portion is on the belt near the buckle as I'm certain my friend had wore the belt before as one of the holes has been used and he may have cut the belt down to size and hopefully he didn't give me a fake. Speaking about quality, how does Versace fit in with stuff from Cartier, Ferragamo or Louis Vuitton? It's a lot easier to tell if a Louis Vuitton is real or fake as LV can only be bought from a LV owned store as there are no authorized dealers. Cartier, Ferragamo can be bought anywhere and I'm not sure but I thought Versace was only sold through their own stores?

 

[rach2jlc]

If you could post some more pics, that would make it infinitely easier than writing long descriptions of where things are located. My buckle just has "made in Italy" on it. The "GIANNI VERSACE" is the logo stamping/printing on the leather itself.

In terms of quality, I'd say they're just as good as any of the brands that you mentioned. The upper-end Versace accessories are intended to compete with Gucci, Ferragamo, LV, etc... so they're fairly comparable. But, keep also in mind that until just a year or two ago Versace had about 10 different labels under its umbrella, from Versus to Versace Jeans Couture to Versace Classic to Versace V2,etc... many of which also produced accessories at lower cost and quality levels.

Versace has a lot more points of sale than LV, so I'd say that they're distributed about as much as Cartier or Ferragamo. In Japan, for example, where Versace is very popular, it seems you can get stuff at nearly every high-end department store or "select" shop (stores that stock designer goods).

So, if you could get onto photobucket and give us a few more images, it might help a lot in identifying your belt.

 

[TCN]

Isn't that from the Caligula uglyway eltbay collection or perhaps the South Beach "Bienvenido a Miami!!!!!" series?

Kidding. ;-)

 

[Zubberah]

Seems a very old belt from late 80s. Pics of the back will help as noted above.

 

[LabelKing]

Indeed, the font of "Gianni Versace" suggests a late '80s or '90s era.

 

[Almighty1]

Thanks guys. It was pretty difficult taking a picture of the belt as you can tell on a Canon Powershot G6 digital camera and the back side will be even more difficult. I'll do it later unless it can be done with a scanner. Are Versace even sold in department stores in the US since I have only seen a Versace store in downtown San Francisco but haven't seen it at Sak's, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Macy's, Neiman-Marcus so far. I always thought Ferragamo, Gucci, Prada were all considered lower end than Louis Vuitton but LV might just be known for their handbags and I wonder how LV can survive when they don't let anyone else sell their products other than their own stores. Cartier I know has belts in the $345-$400 range but the pricing could be because of their name due to the reputation of their watches too.

Update: Here are the images of the belt both ends of the belt that I scanned using a Epson Perfection V750 Pro scanner.

 

[rach2jlc]

Agree with others that this belt is quite vintage and probably from the 80's. But, it is different from my belts, so I'm not entirely sure and can't say. In terms of retail, though, Versace in the 80's was as good and as expensive as there was to be had from designers (just watch Miami Vice!)

In the 1980's, though, LV was a crusty luggage maker and Ferragamo and Cartier were predominantly a shoemaker and a jeweler. These days, of course, they've all diversified, but the luxury goods climate around the time of your belt and today are really different, so it is hard to compare the two.

Anyway, the label on my belts looks something like this one (I found this on rakuten):

So, you've got a pretty neat vintage belt, interesting these days more as a historical object than as a real fashion piece (that neoclassical, rather garish 80's flamboyance is hard to pull off these days). But, given it's age and the sheer number of Versace items produced since the 1980's, it will be hard to get an exact item number. Anyway, enjoy it!

 

[Almighty1]

Wow, never knew the belt was that old... When Miami Vice was shown, I was around 8-10 years old so what do I know? I never even heard about LV until a few years ago even though I remember my high school friends in the late 80's had their monogram men's wallet but I just never knew the brand. I just know in the 80's, Buxton was actually a big name in leather goods, not sure what happened to them now but are their stuff pretty poor in quality? I'm just wondering if LV is really better than the rest since it seems like the brand everyone wants but that might only be for their handbags.

 

[rach2jlc]

I know nothing about Buxton but I'd say that LV's clout is mostly self-created. They self-select and limit the distribution to make it seem a lot more exclusive than it really is. Also, by tacking on 10-20% higher prices than most other designers they also try to add clout. They also do this by courting many different celebrities to make a lot of otherwise ugly, garish bags the next "it" thing.

The quality is by no means poor on LV, but again, it is nothing special. For major brands, I think that Bulgari has better leather quality. For lesser known brands, Valextra or Schedoni are much nicer, as is Hermes (although Hermes is a lot more expensive).

But, again, "image" means a lot here and LV has probably tripled their prices as their image has been more widely dispersed. That $800 "Monogram Speedy" handbag was probably $300 back in 1989... even though it is made from the exact same materials (I'm just guessing on those prices... but I remember my mother having a bag from when I was young in the 80's and, while it was expensive, it was certainly nothing like what they charge now).

 

[Almighty1]

Interesting. I guess when they have no distribution, they can charge whatever they want as long as people are willing to pay for it. I thought LV products were still better made than Prada or Gucci though since I have no idea about Prada but once I had a Gucci belt that was bought from Neiman-Marcus and after a few years, the gold plating completely came off which I had never experienced even with no name $5 belts. The only other belt that has failed on me was the United Colors of Bennetton caramel color leather belt that just tore in the center of the back.

As for LV, I thought Monogram was actually their low end line and then Taiga, Nomade, and Utah lines are all supposed to be better in the leather quality, atleast for the men's wallets.

 

[Zubberah]

The really nice LV stuff in the Suhali leather range (goatskin). Super construction, fine needling and stitching, and lovely uncorrected grain soft leathers, and understated - no LV monograms anywhere. FWIW, I consider all the other LV stuff hideous...price and aesthetics-wise.