Rare Gianni Versace Couture Opera Balletto Teatro Leggings Spring 1991
View Similar Items
Rare Gianni Versace Couture Opera Balletto Teatro Leggings Spring 1991
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:W1, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: GV3441stDibs: LU568804002
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.
- Celine spring 2004 Michael Kors signature chain print cropped pantsBy Celine, Michael KorsLocated in Antwerp, BECeline Spring 2004 Ivory cotton denim ankle-length cropped pants designed by Michael Kors for Celine. Made in stretch ivory cotton denim. Ski...Category
Early 2000s French Pants
- 1920S Ivory & Black Linen Men's Plus Fours Checkered Pants With Patches BucklesLocated in New York, NY1920S Ivory & Black Linen Men's Plus Fours Checkered Pants With Patches Buckles At CuffCategory
1920s Pants
- 1980S COMME DES GARCONS Creme Striped Linen Mens Pants Which Gather At The HemBy Comme des GarçonsLocated in New York, NY1980S COMME DES GARCONS Creme Striped Linen Mens Pants Which Gather At The HemCategory
1980s Pants
- 1930S Beige Wool Gabardine Voluminous Theatrical Mens Pants From HollywoodLocated in New York, NYWaist can be let out 2in, some small holes and repairs. Western Costume Co Hollywood label has the actors name Ralph Rio 1930S Beige Wool Gabardine Vo...Category
1930s Pants
- Ferragamo Graphic Pattern Silk JumpsuitBy FerragamoLocated in New York, NYFerragamo, brown and cream, abstract print, wide leg, sleeveless, jumpsuit, having a V neckline and an attached wide sash.Category
Early 2000s Italian Jumpsuits
- Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2003 Bondage "Sex" Tan PantsBy Dolce & GabbanaLocated in Rome, ITDolce & Gabbana Beige Punk-inspired Bondage trousers from the Spring/Summer 2003 "Sex" Collection.Adjustable black leather buckles on both sides and metal rings throughout which can ...Category
Early 2000s Italian Pants
$437 Sale Price33% Off