Versace Icon Medusa Necklace
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chain Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Drop Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s British Drop Necklaces
1990s Italian Pendant Necklaces
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian More Necklaces
20th Century Italian Belts
1990s Italian Belts
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Belts
Early 2000s Italian Charm Bracelets
People Also Browsed
Mid-20th Century Unknown Cufflinks
Star Sapphire, Gold, 14k Gold
1990s French Belts
1990s Modern Choker Necklaces
Gold Plate
Early 2000s Italian More Necklaces
2010s French Pendant Necklaces
Yellow Gold
Early 2000s Italian Blouses and Tops
Vintage 1980s British Chain Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Turkish Retro Pendant Necklaces
Diamond, Gold, Silver
20th Century French Link Bracelets
Gilt Metal
Late 20th Century French Modern Chain Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Skirt Suits
1990s German Art Nouveau Link Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s European Retro Pendant Necklaces
Diamond, Sapphire, 18k Gold
1990s French Sunglasses
20th Century Italian Chain Bracelets
1990s Italian Skirts
Recent Sales
20th Century Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
20th Century Italian Belts
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Chain Necklaces
White Diamond, 18k Gold
21st Century and Contemporary Pendant Necklaces
Diamond, 18k Gold, White Gold
1990s Italian Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Choker Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate
Early 2000s Italian Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Pendant Necklaces
1990s Italian Pendant Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Choker Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Choker Necklaces
1990s Italian Choker Necklaces
20th Century Italian Belts
1990s Italian Choker Necklaces
1990s Choker Necklaces
20th Century Italian Belts
1990s Italian Belts
20th Century Italian Belts
1990s Italian Belts
21st Century and Contemporary Swimwear
2010s Italian Baroque Choker Necklaces
2010s Italian Baroque Choker Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
20th Century Italian Belts
1990s Italian Belts
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Contemporary Chain Necklaces
Gold Plate
1990s Italian Chain Necklaces
Versace Icon Medusa Necklace For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Versace Icon Medusa Necklace?
Gianni Versace for sale on 1stDibs
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.