1990s Gianni Versace Black Quilted Oversized Medusa Button Car Coat
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 38IT/4US (NA)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Light wear throughout. Material tag removed.
- Seller Location:West Hollywood, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2388219105112
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: West Hollywood, CA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- F/W 1996 Gucci by Tom Ford Navy Runway G Oversized Buckle Wool Trench OvercoatBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a fabulous navy wool oversized Gucci trench coat, designed by Tom Ford. From the Fall/Winter 1996 collection, this coat debuted on the season's runway and features a large abstract Gucci 'G' at the back that was heavily used in this collection. This gorgeous coat...Category
1990s Italian Trench Coats
- F/W 1999 Gucci by Tom Ford Reversible Brown Persian Lamb & Rabbit Fur CoatBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a double-sided Persian lamb and rabbit fur full-length coat. This iconic Tom Ford design was featured on the F/W 1999 runway presentation twice: on look 19 and look 24. According to Ford...Category
1990s Italian Coats and Outerwear
- F/W 2000 Gucci by Tom Ford Runway Tricolor Dyed Mink Zip-Up CoatBy Gucci, Tom Ford for GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting This absolutely marvelous tricolor, color-blocked Gucci mink coat was designed by Tom Ford. The coat was presented as look 37 worn by Danita...Category
Early 2000s Italian Coats and Outerwear
- F/W 2003 Versace by Donatella Wrinkled Leather Lace-Up Coat VintageBy Donatella Versace, VersaceLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a soft lace-up leather Versace trench, designed by Donatella Versace. From the F/W 2003 collection, similar jackets to this one can be seen on that season's runway. Constr...Category
Early 2000s Italian Coats and Outerwear
- S/S 2003 Yves Saint Laurent by Tom Ford Surrealist Stitch Silk Trench Coat DalíBy Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Tom Ford for Yves Saint LaurentLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a surrealist nude detail trench coat, designed by Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche. This coat is a rare prototype of look 4 on the Sp...Category
Early 2000s French Coats and Outerwear
- F/W 2003 Versace by Donatella Western Fringe Suede Wrinkled Leather CoatBy Versace, Donatella VersaceLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a soft lace-up leather Versace trench, designed by Donatella Versace. Debuted as look five on Inga Savitz for the F/W 2003 runway. Constructed of intentionally wrinkled leather, this coat features fringe suede accents on the shoulders, sleeves, and back of the garment - accenting American western style suede appliques...Category
Early 2000s Italian Jackets
- Art Deco 7 Ft. Black Silk Manila Piano Shawl With White Floral EmbroideryLocated in New York, NYArt Deco black silk piano shawl hand embroidered with white silk floral design and 12" hand knotted silk fringe. The shawl is visually beautiful, soft...Category
Early 20th Century Philippine Shawls
- Mariano Fortuny Black Stencilled Velvet Persian Style CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYThis three-quarter length black velvet persian coat was printed with metallic paints with Venetian glass buttons and silk loop closures at the center fr...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Black Stencilled Velvet Long CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortuny's coats often take their inspiration from a myrid of references,renaissance,persian,arabic .These are often elaborately decorated in historical motifs surprisingly unrelated...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Pink Stencilled Velvet Persian Style CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYthis three-quarter length orange-red cut velvet jacket was printed with metallic paints with Venetian glass buttons and silk loop closures at the center front.
The han...CategoryEarly 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Green Stencilled Velvet Long CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortuny translated the caftan as a loose fitting outer garment,usually made out of silk velvet crepe or gauze the fitted back and open front allowed for elaborate stenciled decoratio...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats
- Mariano Fortuny Pink Coral Stencilled Velvet Long CoatBy FortunyLocated in Riverdale, NYFortunys coats take their inspiration from a myrid of references,renaissance ,persian,arabic .These are often elaborately decorated in historical motifs...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Art Deco Coats