1980S GIANNI VERSACE White Bias Cut Silk & Lace Loosely Paisley Printed Slip Dr
View Similar Items
1980S GIANNI VERSACE White Bias Cut Silk & Lace Loosely Paisley Printed Slip Dr
About the Item
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: S (US)
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: SL3ON8001stDibs: LU16129650182
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.
- 1930S Pink & Blue Floral Cotton Voile Bias Cut Negligee Slip Dress RobeLocated in New York, NY1930S Pink & Blue Floral Cotton Voile Bias Cut Negligee Slip Dress RobeCategory
1930s American Negligees
- 1970S Black Hand Beaded Burlesque Showgirl Festival Leotard BodysuitLocated in New York, NY1970S Black Hand Beaded Burlesque Showgirl Festival Leotard BodysuitCategory
1970s Leotards
- 1940S Blush Pink Rayon Chiffon Sheer Peignoir Robe With Lace Ruffles & Mother OLocated in New York, NY1940S Blush Pink Rayon Chiffon Sheer Peignoir Robe With Lace Ruffles & Mother Of Pearl ButtonsCategory
1940s American Negligees
- 1890S Rare Victorian Hand Printed Light Weight Silk KimonoLocated in New York, NY1890S Rare Victorian Hand Printed Light Weight Silk KimonoCategory
1890s French Robes
- 1940S Ivory Bias Cut Silk Crepe De Chine Slip Dress With Floral Appliqués & EmbLocated in New York, NY1940S Ivory Bias Cut Silk Crepe De Chine Slip Dress With Floral Appliqués & EmbroideryCategory
1940s Slips
- 1930S Blush Pink Bias Cut Rayon & Lace Slip Dress NegligeeLocated in New York, NYAs is condition, small nicks and holes 1930S Blush Pink Bias Cut Rayon & Lace Slip Dress NegligeeCategory
1930s Negligees
- GIANNI VERSACE Andy Warhol Pop Art Marilyn Monroe Betty Boop SS91 Bodyuit BodyBy Versace Jeans CoutureLocated in PARIS, FRGIANNI VERSACE Andy Warhol Pop Art Marilyn Monroe Betty Boop SS91 Bodysuit Rare Gianni Versace Jeans Pop Art Marilyn Monroe and Betty Boop print cotton bosysuit from Spring 1991 Col...Category
1990s Italian Bodysuits
- new VERSACE Tribute SS18 Runway Baroque Cherub gold black lurex bodysuit IT38 XSBy Versace, Donatella VersaceLocated in Hong Kong, NTnew VERSACE Tribute SS18 Runway Baroque Cherub gold black lurex bodysuit IT38 XS Reference: TGAS/A05342 Brand: Versace Designer: Donatella Versace Model: B...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Bodysuits
- Pink embroidered silk sleeping gown Circa 1930Located in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRPink embroidered silk sleeping gown Circa 1930 SIZE MCategory
1930s French Lingerie
- Robe and night-gown in pink nylon and tulle with gold Polka dots SchiaparelliBy SchiaparelliLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRRobe and night-gown in pink nylon and tulle with gold Polka dots. The Robe is draped on the shoulders and close with gold metal buttons. The dress is draped o...Category
1960s Unknown Loungewear
- 1930 pale pink lingerie combinaisonLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FR1930 pale pink lingerie with appliqué in the same fabric, embroidered and top-stitched on the bustCategory
1930s French Lingerie
- 1930 pale pink silk -crêpe night gown with embroideries and laceLocated in Saint-Ouen-Sur-Seine, FRpale pink silk-crêpe night gown with embroideries and lace " entre-deux" and strapsCategory
1930s French Lingerie