Gianni Versace Optical Print Velvet Leggings Autumn/Winter 1991
View Similar Items
Gianni Versace Optical Print Velvet Leggings Autumn/Winter 1991
About the Item
- Designer:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: 42 (EU)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:W1, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: GV1541stDibs: LU568185090
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.
- Vivienne Westwood c.1996 MacAndreas Tartan Bondage Pants TrousersBy Vivienne WestwoodLocated in Hertfordshire, GBVintage Vivienne Westwood c. 1996 Menswear however small size so also suitable for women MacAndreas tartan bondage pants Two sets of zips on back of legs Removable strap between t...Category
1990s Pants
- S/S 1995 Gianni Versace Butterfly JeansBy Gianni Versace, VersaceLocated in Concord, NCVersace butterfly print jeans from Spring Summer 1995. White denim jeans printed with an energetic butterfly motif throughout. Condition: Good cond...Category
1990s Italian Jeans
- JEAN PAUL GAULTIER SS03 COUTURE Wool Sequin Embroidered PantsBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Brussels, BEHollywood Glamour -and the decadent appeal of its Golden Age- are recurrent themes within Jean Paul Gaultier’s work and his men’s and women’s collections. These mannish pants, made o...Category
Early 2000s Italian Pants
- Vintage 1980’s Missoni 100% Italian wool tweed pleat front trousersBy MissoniLocated in COLLINGWOOD, AUA beautiful example of the early 1980's Missoni design in these 100% Italian wool tweed, pleat front pants in a stunning colour combination showing an overall muted purple colour wit...Category
1980s Italian Pleated Pants
- Gianfranco Ferré Sequined Capri Pants - 80sBy Gianfranco FerréLocated in Milano, ITGianfranco Ferré Sequined Capri Pants is a rare trouser by Ferré from the second half of the 1980s featuring a soft fit and cinched at the waist by an elastic lamé band. The entire g...Category
20th Century Italian Pants
- Krizia Silk Ballon Pants - 70sBy KriziaLocated in Milano, ITKrizia Silk Ballon Pants is a pair of Indian-style pants probably made in the late 1970s. The garment features a high buttoned waist, side pockets and a soft, cool fit thanks in part...Category
20th Century European Pants