Gianni Versace
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 4/6 (US)Bust: 38 in (96.52 cm)Waist: 28 in (71.12 cm)Hip: 40 in (101.6 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Excellent.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: AU120731451244
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: Los Angeles, CA
- Return PolicyThis item cannot be returned.
- Vintage Versace Yellow Giraffe Print Dress with Fur CollarBy VersaceLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Versace chestnut brown and banana yellow giraffe print turtleneck long-sleeved dress featuring a removable tan and brown fur collar and center back zipper and gemstone button...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Day Dresses
- Vintage Pierre Cardin Chrome Metal Necklace Dress with Metal Cuffs 1968By Pierre CardinLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Pierre Cardin black wool cocktail dress that features an attached chrome metal necklace and bracelet cuffs, slim body, center front slit, center back zipper and below the kne...Category
1960s French Day Dresses
- Vintage Alexander McQueen Flag Panel Strapless Dress 1998 Untitled CollectionBy Alexander McQueenLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Alexander McQueen strapless blue Prince of Wales check and black wool "Flag" panel dress with center back zipper. From the Untitled Spring / Summer 1998 Collection. Excell...Category
1990s Day Dresses
- Vintage Janice Wainwright Black Embroidered Art Deco Maxi GownBy Janice WainwrightLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Janice Wainwright Art Deco-inspired black wool long sleeve maxi dress featuring an embroidered pendant necklace at the neckline, fron...Category
1970s British Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Vintage Versace Brown Leather Jumper DressBy Gianni VersaceLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Versace dark oxblood brown leather jumper dress with four cargo pockets at front and back zipper closure. Good Vintage Condition.Category
Late 20th Century Italian Day Dresses
- Vintage Gianni Versace Black Leather Architectural DressBy Gianni VersaceLocated in Los Angeles, CAVintage Gianni Versace black leather dress with interesting neckline detail and hip pouch pocket and back zipper closure. Relaxed easy fit throug...Category
1980s Italian Evening Dresses and Gowns
- F/W 2001 Gucci by Tom Ford Black Tulle Sleeveless Shift DressBy Tom Ford for Gucci, GucciLocated in West Hollywood, CAPresenting a black pleated chiffon Gucci dress, designed by Tom Ford. From the Fall/Winter 2001 collection, the top version of this dress in pink debuted on the season's runway as pa...Category
Early 2000s Italian Cocktail Dresses
- Claude Montana Black Wrap Dress/Optional Coat With Velvet AccentsBy Claude Montana, Claude Montana ParisLocated in New York, NYClaude Montana black wrap dress with an optional choice to wear as a coat iss accented with velvet as ties and finished with gold hardware caps on ...Category
1980s Italian Day Dresses
- 1990s Moschino Couture It's All So Simple Black Sleeveless Shift DressBy MoschinoLocated in San Francisco, CAVintage 1990s Moschino Couture black and white sleeveless sheath dress with "It's all so simple" embroidery at front. Back zip. 52% acetate, 48% rayon. Fully lined in 60% acetate, ...Category
1990s Italian Casual Dresses
- Ossie Clark angel-sleeve drawstring dress with print by Celia Birtwell, ss 1971By Ossie ClarkLocated in London, GB▪ Ossie Clark angel-sleeve dress ▪ 'Busy Lizzie' floral print by Celia Birtwell ▪ Pink and green with black ground ▪ Loose fit ▪ Drawstring fastening a...Category
1970s British Day Dresses
- Eisenberg Originals Dress with Beaded Lace Panel 1940sBy Eisenberg OriginalsLocated in Water Mill, NYA beautiful black silk 1940s dress by Eisenberg Originals. It has a crew neckline, long sleeves and a stunning richly detailed glass seed beaded lace insert across the upper chest an...Category
1940s American Day Dresses
- 1970's SCOTT BARRIE black jersey dressBy Scott BarrieLocated in San Fransisco, CAJet-black, jersey dress designed by Scott Barrie dating to the 1970's. Dress fits a size 4. Dress measures approximately 32" at bust, 13" at smallest point of shoulders and 15.5" alo...Category
1970s American Day Dresses