1982 Gianni Versace Couture Metal Mesh Oroton Top and Skirt
View Similar Items
1982 Gianni Versace Couture Metal Mesh Oroton Top and Skirt
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 40 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Hamburg, DE
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU97261532
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.
- HAUTE COUTURE INTERNATIONAL Heavily Beaded Silk Champagne Opera Coat & DressBy HAUTE COUTURE INT'LLocated in Los Angeles, CAThis Haute Couture International ensemble is composed of a champagne tone embellished silk with a floral/Ivy motif. The coat features cente...Category
20th Century Hong Kong Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Saint Laurent Plunge Neck Gold Tunic Dress DressBy Yves Saint LaurentLocated in Krakow, PLEnsure you never stay out of focus with this glittering golden mini dress from Saint Laurent's SS17 selection. This silk mini dress is designed with a plunging neckline, long sleeve...Category
2010s Evening Dresses and Gowns
- Vintage White Cocktail Dress with Bead DetailLocated in London, GBA lovely white vintage cocktail dress from the 1950's. The dress has a round neckline and has a pleat at the front with bow detail . It is...Category
1950s Unknown Cocktail Dresses
- Metallic Pink Brocade 1960s Evening DressLocated in London, GBPink brocade evening dress featuring an all over rose motif deign in metallic threads lined in raw silk in a complimenting colour. Featuring a bow at the ...Category
20th Century Evening Dresses
- 1930 Art Deco Golden Silk Net & Sequin Hollywood Starlet GownLocated in Gresham, ORA divine 1930s Hollywood Starlet Gown: Spaghetti straps, gathered bust radiates down to the hem in golden sequined rays on gold silk tulle netti...Category
1930s American Evening Gowns
- 1960s Saks Fifth Avenue Cream Silk Chiffon Dress w/ Rhinestone Encrusted BodiceBy Saks Fifth AvenueLocated in Gresham, OR1960s Saks Fifth Avenue Cream Silk Chiffon Sheath Dress w/ Rhinestone Encrusted Bodice: Heavily boned and structured bodice is entirely encrusted with rhinestones supported by tiny s...Category
1960s American Evening Gowns