The innovator of fashion and the story of his life.
... that was the one with the crazy clothes.'
... oh, somehow he was murdered.'
... his things were always cult for me, and the supermodels, that was a great time, there is nothing like that anymore.'
... didn't he work for the snobs and millionaires.'
His name is associated with opulent fashion, Italian glamour and its tragic end, which many people around the world were again aware of through the FOX television series American Crime Story 2 from 2017/18.
When two shots were fired on July 15, 1997, the hero's journey of his life ended abruptly and a myth was born at the same time. In a certain way, this ended the 1990s prematurely.
Gianni's life was thus laid out like a classic hero's journey with a rapid and unexpected ascent, many stations, great luck and a sudden death. It is a parable of the impermanence of which a myth remains.
The origins of his design heavily influenced by Greek-Roman heritage of southern Italy
"REGGIO DI CALABRIA, the kingdom where the fairy story of my life began, where I began to breathe the art of Magna Grecia."
"I come from a land with a rich history, from MAGNA GRECIA full of vivacity. It's roots are old, ancient roots that knew the aristocracy of SCULPTURAL DRAPERIES; from there comes the force to dare, the will to outdo myself, the stimulus to give even more."
– Gianni Versace
As a child, Gianni came across Medusa's head in the ancient ruins of Reggio di Calabria. Medusa is one of the three Gorgon sisters and the only one of a mortal nature. A beguiling beauty is ascribed to her, which has turned men's heads. After condemning the sea god Poseidon, angry Athene turns her into a snake-haired monster, that turns men into stone with one look.
Medusa is suggestive of power, strength and beauty that constitute a propitious sense of the mythology. It is said of Medusa that no one can turn away from her, because of her fascinating beauty with perfect proportions of the nose and lips and flowing hair.
The Versace Medusa head, as it appears in the brand's logo, is an expression of Gianni's vision: It encompasses his taste for tradition and classical nuance along with his desire for astonish audiences with designs that are striking in their brilliance, originality and style.
Men - as beautiful as gods
Greco-Roman morality did not recognize a distinctive boundary between homosexual and heterosexual eroticism. Greco-Roman artists, mostly men, did not shy away from portraying both women and men as statues with godlike beauty. Far away from this social attitude, the portrayal of male beauty returned with the Renaissance. The most famous example to this day is Michelangelo's "David". Gianni Versace made no secret of the fact that he was gay without a formal coming out. But he was ready to break this social taboo. In his visual aesthetics, there are not primarily naked, beautiful women that stand out, as it was typical in the 80s and 90s, but men, often undressed. In his book "Men without ties" he pleads for the liberation of men as an erotic being, which must also be followed by a change in men's fashion.
Outdoor pool of Casa Casuarina, 1116 Ocean Drive in the South Beach neighbourhood of Miami Beach, Florida
As early as 1977, at the age of 30, he bought the pompous Villa Fontanelle on Lake Como, which he renovated until the end of 1980, in 1982 the Rizzoli Palazzo in via Gesú in Milan, where he lived and where the company's headquarters were, and in 1995 his 17-room apartment in New York and most recently in 1992 the Casa Casuarina in Miami Beach.
His garden architect Roy Strong spoke in Gianni Versace's book “Don't Disturb” about his “unbridled enthusiasm” for the baroque style. This style shaped his houses and apartments in all opulence and became the aesthetic basis of the product lines that he combined in the Home Collection.
The baroque, black and gold patterns in particular are iconic trademarks of Gianni Versace to this day, both in fashion and in his interior design.
"Lunch with Gianni Versace, went to his castle. Rizzoli's castle. Big Roman and Greek statues that Susie from Frankfurt got Versace to buy. It was grand, huge, so glamourous. we had a good time, then has to go back... Gianni did the costumes for Bob Wilson's Salome at La Scala. He got us tickets so i could slip away from my opening when i got tired."
- Andy Warhol, 1987 Milano
