Versace polka dot dress & jacket, Spring/Summer 1991
View Similar Items
Versace polka dot dress & jacket, Spring/Summer 1991
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Dimensions:Marked Size: M (UK)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: CBGV0041stDibs: LU7242023733
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.
- JEAN PAUL GAULTIER SS 2001 co-ord mesh shirt and trousers Bacteria printBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Genève, CHCo-ord set with iconic Bacteria print from Gaultier SS 2001, fantastic condition. Made in Italy. Set is Top is in size XL, made of extremely flexible polyamide mesh and can fit from...Category
Early 2000s Italian Trouser Pant Suits
$569 Sale Price20% Off - Gianni Versace Suit Pink Jacket Skirt Set 1990'sBy Gianni VersaceLocated in London, GBGianni Versace Suit Pink Jacket Skirt Set 1990's 2 Piece - Jacket and Skirt co-ord. Waffle Suede Detail. Medusa Clear Buttons. Very Rare Piece. CONDITION: This item is a vintage...Category
1990s Skirt Suits
- Kenzo Jungle Velvet Red SuitBy Kenzo JungleLocated in London, GBKenzo Jungle Red Suit Jacket Blazer Skirt Floral Velvet Suit Jacket and Skirt Co-Ord Set Velvety Rose Pattern Detail CONDITION: This item is a vintage/pre-worn piece so some sign...Category
1990s Skirt Suits
- Dolce & Gabbana Suit Grey Leopard Blazer Jacket Skirt SuitBy Dolce & GabbanaLocated in London, GBDolce & Gabbana Suit Grey Leopard Blazer Jacket Skirt Suit CONDITION: This item is a vintage/pre-worn piece so some signs of natural wear and age are to be expected. However good ...Category
1990s Skirt Suits
- Christian Dior John Galliano - Runway Fall/Winter 1999 Coat & Skirt Size 38FRBy John Galliano for Christian DiorLocated in Saint Petersburg, FLChristian Dior - John Galliano Runway Coat with mink fur. The knit skirt is also Dior from the same season Size 38FR - John Galliano for Christian Dior Fall 1999Category
1990s French Skirt Suits
- Christian Dior John Galliano Vintage Dress & Jacket Fall/Winter 2001 Size 36FRBy John Galliano for Christian DiorLocated in Saint Petersburg, FLChristian Dior Vintage Dress and Jacket with Fur Collar. Dress Size 36FR Jacket Size 38FR Fall/Winter 2001 - John Galliano for Christian Dior.Category
Early 2000s French Skirt Suits