GIANNI VERSACE / GV-1015
View Similar Items
GIANNI VERSACE / GV-1015
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 6 (US)Bust: 38 in (96.52 cm)Waist: 30 in (76.2 cm)
- Place of Origin:Italy
- Period:
- Condition:EXCELLENT.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU1305024369
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. 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,” Versace once explained. Instead, he had a sexy good time with fashion — as he did with life. Today, vintage Gianni Versace clothing, handbags and other accessories look astonishingly fresh and freshly relevant.
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 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.
- Halston Purple Chiffon Halter Dress, c.1970s.By HalstonLocated in New York, NYHalston Purple Chiffon Halter Dress, c.1970s. Halston layered chiffon purple halter dress with empire bodice and handkerchief skirt. Low cut back ...Category
1970s American Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Elaborately Beaded French FLapper Dress, c.1920sLocated in New York, NYElaborately Beaded French FLapper Dress, c.1920s Indigo knee-length gauze Flapper dress with intricate beading of art deco style motifs in shades of indigo, blue and silver. Featurin...Category
1920s French Aesthetic Evening Dresses
- Gianni Versace F/W 1996 Runway Vintage Embellished Sheer Evening Dress GownBy Gianni VersaceLocated in Naples, FLGianni Versace F/W 1996 Runway Vintage Embellished Sheer Evening Dress Gown IT 38 Gianni Versace couture evening dress featuring sheer top, embell...Category
1990s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Gianni Versace S/S 1994 Runway Couture Vintage Crinkle Silk Lace Black DressBy Gianni Versace CoutureLocated in Naples, FLGianni Versace S/S 1994 Runway Couture Vintage Crinkle Silk Lace Black Dress IT 42Category
1990s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent S/S 2002 Runway Sheer Cutout Black Dress GownBy Tom Ford for Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Naples, FLTom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent YSL S/S 2002 Runway Sheer Cutout Backless Black Evening Dress Gown FR 36Category
Early 2000s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Azzedine Alaïa F/W 2001 Vintage Halter Backless Black Gown Maxi DressBy Azzedine AlaïaLocated in Naples, FLAzzedine Alaïa 2001 Vintage Halter Backless Black Gown Maxi Dress Size M Alaïa black maxi dress featuring halter neckline, open back. flared hem with train...Category
1990s Evening Dresses and Gowns