1980s Gianni Versace Embossed Crocodile Handbag
View Similar Items
1980s Gianni Versace Embossed Crocodile Handbag
About the Item
- Designer:
- Brand:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:San Francisco, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU39421157612
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.
- 1890s Victorian Black Beaded Pouch with Filigree Frame and Carved DetailLocated in San Francisco, CA1890s victorian black beaded pouch with unusual hand carved frame embellishment. Filigree metal frame. Metal mesh strap. Lined in dark olive green cotton....Category
1890s Evening Bags and Minaudières
- 1920's Beaded Floral Wristlet Bag w/ FringeLocated in San Francisco, CA1920's hand-beaded purse with green leaves, red roses, and harp against a white field in seed beads. Blue flowers border the top edge. Silver tone embossed frame. Unlined. Looped see...Category
1920s Evening Bags and Minaudières
$495 Sale Price20% Off - 20s Red, Black & Yellow Enamel Mesh PurseLocated in San Francisco, CA20s red, black & yellow enamel mesh purse. Measurements: 12" Length 2 1/4" WidthCategory
Early 20th Century Evening Bags and Minaudières
- 30s Red Whiting and Davis Mesh PurseBy Whiting & DavisLocated in San Francisco, CA1930s Whiting and Davis iridescent red mesh purse. Metal zip closure and interior pocket.Category
1930s American Evening Bags and Minaudières
$495 Sale Price23% Off - 1940s Black Alligator HandbagLocated in San Francisco, CA1940s Black Alligator Handbag Slight tarnish on the metal work. L 12 H 9 D 4.5Category
1940s Unknown Top Handle Bags
- 1940s Brown Alligator ClutchLocated in San Francisco, CA1940s Brown Alligator Clutch Slight wear in the lining. L 9 H 7 D 2Category
1940s Unknown Clutches
$195 Sale Price34% Off
- Kathrine Baumann Leopard Design Swarovski Crystal Minaudiere Evening BagBy Kathrine Baumann Beverly HillsLocated in Tustin, CAExquisite handmade designer, Kathrine Baumann, who is the celebrated handbag maker to the stars, leopard pattern pillow shaped minaudière, evening bag...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Evening Bags and Minaudières
- Chanel Orylag Triple Chain Flap BagBy ChanelLocated in London, GBA stylish and Chic Chanel Orylag flap bag from the Fall/Winter 2015 Act 1 Collection. The exterior of this bag features a navy orylag fur with antiqued s...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Evening Bags and Minaudières
- Chanel Black Velvet 2.55 Backpack, c. 1994-96By ChanelLocated in Westport, CTChanel Black Velvet 2.55 Backpack, c. 1994-96Category
1990s French Backpacks
- Chanel vintage black satin cc logo letter evening clutchBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLVery RARE classy and sophisticated while still maintaining an edgy feel CC metal frame magnetic closure interior is lined with CC monogram microfiber interior has interior pocket C...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Clutches
- Chanel 1990's NEW brown crocodile envelope clutchBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLGorgeous 24k large gold plated cc turn-lock closure Original tags from 1990's Barneys are still attached Collectors Item RARE interior brown lambskin lining that shows about 3 faint...Category
1990s Italian Clutches
- Chanel 2011 Rare Soft Lambskin Black Hand Slide Butterfly Ornament Clutch FlapBy ChanelLocated in Miami, FLChanel Rare Soft Lambskin Black Hand Held Slide Butterfly Ornament Clutch Flap Year: 2011 Silver hardware Slide in hand butterfly detail Silky microfiber soft black interior Strap ...Category
2010s Italian Evening Bags and Minaudières