GIANNI VERSACE c.1990's Black Leather Gold Medusa Mini Buckle Handbag Purse
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. CONDITION: AB/B (see description) Minor wear to exterior/interior leather; Gold hardware with small imperfections and minimal chipping. Please refer to images provided.
- Seller Location:Thiensville, WI
- Reference Number:
Gianni Versace
The signature extravagance of legendary fashion designer Gianni Versace — forever aligned with glamour, sex, celebrity and spectacle — can overshadow the Italian couturier’s broad and deep engagement with history and culture. Today, his vintage dresses and gowns, handbags, sunglasses and other accessories look astonishingly fresh and freshly relevant.
More than any designer before him, Versace mined celebrity, music and Pop art for inspiration, and his subversive, maximalist and unabashedly seductive designs infused high fashion with an entirely new ethos. “I don’t believe in good taste,” he once explained. Instead, he had a sexy good time with fashion — as he did with life.
Gianni Versace was born in Calabria, Italy. His mother was a successful dressmaker who employed more than 40 seamstresses. As a child, little Gianni marveled at her workshop, which would become a university of sorts, where he learned the exceptional construction techniques that were at the foundation of his creative expression.
In 1972, at age 25, he moved to Milan to work in fashion. He launched his first collection — and his label — in 1978, with his older brother Santo managing the business concerns. Soon, sister Donatella, whom Gianni dressed and took to discos when she was still a child, joined the family venture, where she had a creative role and managed enormously popular ready-to-wear lines such as Versus.
Vintage Versace — and Gianni Versace Couture, which debuted in 1989 — has become catnip for modern fashion enthusiasts who seek out the now-iconic house codes that originated in the designs of the 1980s and 1990s. His glamorous and seductive apparel — the clingy skirts and slender, strappy party dresses, as well as the erotic magazine ads that publicized them — looms large, but Versace’s art and historical influences were also vast.
Versace was an art collector, and he took on commissions to create costumes for theatrical performances during the 1980s and spoke of looking to numerous cultures for inspiration. The New York Times noted in 1997 that the fashion industry “is now driven by contemporary culture because Mr. Versace made it that way.”
Insiders consider his 1991/1992 Autumn/Winter runway show — which featured supermodels Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista lip-synching George Michael’s “Freedom” — as the moment when the two worlds of fashion and pop culture became one, changing both forever.
Versace's adventurous spirit of design resulted in his creating jewel-toned prints rooted in Grecian motifs, Etruscan symbols, the Italian Baroque and Andy Warholʼs Marilyn Monroe. There were slinky dresses in Oroton, his patented chain-mail textile that draped like satin, and leather bondage ensembles. Sex sold, for both women and men. Wrote the late curator Richard Martin, “[Versace] became the standard-bearer of gay men’s fashion because he eschewed decorum and designed for desire.”
Following Versace’s tragic murder in 1997, Donatella took over the role of artistic director and continued to evolve the house codes with a twist of her feminine and feminist perspective. Today, Santo Versace is chief executive officer of Versace and Donatella is its chief creative officer.
Browse an extraordinary collection of vintage Gianni Versace evening dresses, handbags, day dresses and more on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Thiensville, WI
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- EMILIO PUCCI c.1960's Multicolor Velvet Abstract Print Top Handle Mini HandbagBy Emilio PucciLocated in Thiensville, WIEMILIO PUCCI c.1960's Multicolored Velvet Abstract Printed Top Handle Mini Hand Bag Brand / Manufacturer: Emilio Pucci Circa: 1960's Style: Structured t...Category
1960s Italian Top Handle Bags
- ALEXANDER McQUEEN c.2003 Brown Leather Crocodile Embossed Buckle Box HandbagBy Alexander McQueenLocated in Thiensville, WIALEXANDER McQUEEN c.2003 Brown Leather Crocodile Embossed Buckle Box Handbag Brand / Manufacturer: Alexander McQueen Circa: 2003 Designer: Ale...Category
Early 2000s Italian Top Handle Bags
- HERMES c.1973 "Berry" Navy Blue Box Calf Leather Double Top Handle Tote HandbagBy HermèsLocated in Thiensville, WIDESCRIPTION: HERMES c.1973 "Berry" Navy Blue Box Calf Leather Double Top Handle Tote Handbag Circa: c.1973 Label(s): Hermes Paris Style: Berry Color(s): Navy Blue Lined: Yes Unmark...Category
1970s French Top Handle Bags
- CELINE Tricolor "Mini Luggage Tote" Phoebe Philo Navy Blue Brown Leather HandbagBy Celine, Phoebe PhiloLocated in Thiensville, WICéline tricolor "Mini Luggage Tote" from the Phoebe Philo Collection. Colorblock style with shades of light brown, dark taupe and navy blue. Gold-tone hardware. Smooth calf leather ...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Tote Bags
- GIVENCHY 2003 Multi Floral Rose Violets Camouflage Shoulder Bag Crossbody StrapBy John Galliano, GivenchyLocated in Thiensville, WIGIVENCHY 2003 Multi Floral Rose & Violets Camouflage Structured Shoulder Bag + Crossbody Shoulder Strap Brand / Manufacturer: Givenchy Collection: 200...Category
Early 2000s Italian Structured Shoulder Bags
- EMILIO PUCCI c.1960’s Floral Signature Print Multi-Color Velvet Leather HandbagBy Emilio PucciLocated in Thiensville, WIEMILIO PUCCI c.1960’s Floral Signature Print Multi-Color Velvet Leather Handbag Circa: 1960’s Label(s): Emilio Pucci by Jana Style: Handbag Color(s): ...Category
1960s Italian Top Handle Bags
- French Sequin Black Linen BagLocated in New York, NYChic Sequin French Bag on black linen base. Elegant and timeless detailing with even seed bead borders on the interiors and edges of strap. Moire taffeta...Category
1950s French Top Handle Bags
- 1980s Handbag One Of A Kind Record Album Crocodile Embossed Vintage Purse BagLocated in San Diego, CAExtraordinary vintage 80s black vinyl record album two sided crocodile / alligator embossed handbag! One side features a Jennifer Holliday record, ...Category
1980s Italian Novelty Bags
- Hermes Kelly Doll Quelle Idole Black AlligatorBy HermèsLocated in Paris, FRDesigned by Jean-Louis Dumas in 2000, reedited very rarely in very small quantities. Incredible mini kelly doll in alligator leather ! Crocodile leather is...Category
2010s French Top Handle Bags
- 2006 Louis Vuitton Les Extraordinaires Top Handle BagBy Louis VuittonLocated in Torre Del Greco, ITLouis Vuitton handbag, limited edition Les Extraordinaires, fall/winter 2006 collection, made in bordeaux emprainte leather with inserts in dark brown leather and golden hardware. Eq...Category
Early 2000s Top Handle Bags
- Louis Vuitton Capucines GM Top Handle Bag Black LeatherBy Louis VuittonLocated in Torre Del Greco, ITLouis Vuitton signed bag, Capucines model, size GM, made of black grained leather with beige inserts and silver hardware. Equipped with a central flap, internally lined in smooth bla...Category
2010s Top Handle Bags
- Balenciaga Ville Logo Sprint Black Shoulder BagBy BalenciagaLocated in Torre Del Greco, ITBalenciaga bag, Ville logo print model, made of black leather, white printed logo and silver hardware. Equipped with a double rigid handle in leather a...Category
2010s Novelty Bags