Versace, Gianni (1946-1997)

Dates

• Existence: 1946-1997

Biography

Italian fashion designer active in Milan and Paris. Versace was a prolific and energetic designer of the 1980s and 1990s, known for manifestations of overt sexuality in both men’s and women’s clothes. Born in Reggio Calabria, a small town in southern Italy, Versace spent his childhood in his mother’s dressmaking shop. In 1972 he moved to Milan to begin a career in fashion design. Versace worked as a freelance designer for several Italian firms, including Genny (1977–82), Complice (1977), and Callaghan (1976–9). He opened his own design house, Gianni Versace SpA, in Milan in 1978. While turning out designs for his own lines of women’s clothing and menswear, the designer continued to contribute designs to other Italian ready-to-wear labels. Gianni’s older brother, Santos, joined the firm as the business manager, while his younger sister, Donatella, became the house’s public relations manager and, in 1993, the secondary designer on Versace’s diffusion lines, Versus and Istante. From the beginning of his career, Versace was known for strong, clear silhouettes, good tailoring and mixing unexpected materials, such as leather with silk. While continuously drawing on historical influence for form and ornamentation, especially the Classical artwork he saw as a child at the Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria, Versace insisted that fashion must look towards the future, and he drew on new technology, experimenting with metal meshes, laser fusing, plastics and glossy textile finishes.

Versace began showing his Atelier, or couture, line in Paris in 1989; although the styles were not drastically different from those featured in the Milan ready-to-wear shows, they were handled with great emphasis on quality of materials and craftsmanship. Elaborate, over-the-top embroidery and custom-made buttons and beads flashed across the catwalk in Paris on Versace’s extremely feminine and overtly sexual clothes. In his Spring/Summer 1990 couture collection, Versace presented a deluge of Paris and Eiffel Tower motifs in prints and beading. The designer earned a reputation for vulgarity in 1992 when he introduced a line of leather ‘bondage’ clothing drawn directly from the underground sadomasochistic lifestyle. Accused of demeaning women, Versace defended his designs by saying that his clients found them empowering and that his clothes were not for all women. A plenitude of leather and loud colors made his clothes appealing to rock stars and celebrities, and anyone who wanted to draw attention to themselves.

The theatricality of Versace’s aesthetic was put to good use in a number of stage productions for opera and ballet, including several ballets at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Just as Versace’s theatre costumes reflected his interest in bright color and strong silhouettes, Versace’s fashion business took on an overriding interest in entertainment. In 1992, he held an event called ‘Rock’n’ Rule’, which combined a charity benefit with a fashion show and rock concert. His catwalk shows were accompanied by rock music and many well-known musicians wore his clothes in concert, including Sting, David Bowie, Madonna and Phil Collins. In 1992 Versace went on tour with Elton John as his wardrobe manager.

Versace’s most influential contribution to fashion shows was his choice of models: Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington. In the 1980s, modelling was divided into two separate specializations, catwalk and magazine. Versace combined these functions by putting his photogenic advertising models on the catwalk, where their familiar faces and personalities turned them into supermodels. Versace’s advertising campaigns used such photographers as Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton , who created photographs that challenged the sexual mores of the day. Versace clothing was said to bring fame to the wearer, as it did to actress Elizabeth Hurley, who received extensive publicity for wearing a black Versace evening dress, held together with safety pins at the sides, to a film première in 1994.

In addition to the couture collections presented in Paris and men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections in Milan, Gianni Versace SpA encompassed countless diffusion lines, sportswear, designer denim, accessories, homewares and fragrances. His ‘populist’ couture collections transitioned quickly into ready-to-wear. Versace signatures included toga-like draped dresses, brightly coloured silk prints for men and women, and gilt Medusa heads emblazoned on buttons, buckles, and porcelain plates. After Versace was shot dead outside his home in South Beach, FL, Gianni Versace SpA continued to operate under the design direction of Donatella Versace.

Found in 20 Collections and/or Records: