“When you are born in a place such as Calabria… you cannot help but be influenced by the classical past,” he once noted.
The empire expanded to encompass everything from the couture gowns of Atelier Versace to fragrance and extravagant home furnishings, not to mention myriad accessories bearing his now-iconic Medusa head.
Supported commercially by his brother Santo and in due course creatively by his sister Donatella, Versace’s business became a truly Italian family affair. In 1978, he launched his eponymous label, debuting his first womenswear ready-to-wear collection at the Palazzo della Permanente and opening his inaugural store the same year. In 1972, he gravitated north to Milan, by then firmly established as Italy’s fashion capital, where he spent the next few years as a freelance designer for the Callaghan, Genny and Complice brands. But it was while studying architectural drawing at a local technical college that Versace began developing his craft, first working as an apprentice buyer for his mother and then creating his own designs for her store. Everyone from the supermodels who walked his shows and fronted his campaigns, to fashion industry editors, to friends and celebrities (including Elton John, Sting and Diana, Princess of Wales) came to pay their respects to a designer who in three decades had injected couture with fun, sex and glamour, changing the face of fashion in the process.īorn in Reggio di Calabria, Italy in 1946, the designer – who never formally trained – spent his early years observing his dressmaker mother in her studio. Two thousand mourners attended Versace’s memorial service filling Milan’s gothic cathedral, Il Duomo. This Milan Fashion Week, Signora Versace is showing us all how it’s done.Last month marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Gianni Versace, tragically murdered in cold blood outside Casa Casuarina, his Miami mansion in South Beach, on July 15, 1997. And Donatella’s masterclass in lo spettacolo didn’t stop there – yesterday an emailed invite to a secret event on Sunday teased a collaboration between Versace and Fendi’s Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi. The overall effect was youthful and celebratory, tactile and eye-grabbing: an invitation to get out and get physical once again. Footwear ranged from pool slides and chunky sandals to Y2K-style kitten heels and sky-high platforms while bags spanned mini top handles adorned with chains and bold, oversized shoppers.
Basketball vests were given a silky spin, while bright, printed pyjama sets offered a soft launch into post-lockdown life. Tailored suiting in black, block neons or gaudy florals abounded, as did vinyl in the form of slinky, skin-tight dresses and skirts. Lipa closed the show in a Barbie pink mesh two piece.
And the Versace-isms didn’t stop there, though it was suitably revamped for the TikTok era safety pins and silk scarves in archive prints – worn on heads, as panelling on skirts and jeans, or as handkerchief tops – were dotted throughout, while the latter half of the show saw the return of the house’s trademark chain mail in electric hues.