Gianni Versace….. a fashionable life and a life in fashion
Writing this article about fashion legend Gianni Versace
allows me to remember him via my own memories, call upon those who knew him and
worked with him and finally to enlighten those who may not have had the
pleasure of “growing up” with this brilliantly talented man. In today’s world
of fashion, the modus operandi is to rarely look back and only to see only what
is in the present. Hopefully, this telling of the life and times of Gianni Versace
will entertain and educate you about this once in a generation legendary and
iconic designer whose influence over the past 40 years. Gianni was a gift to us
all … even if you were not a fan of his clothes, his imprimatur is still felt
on runways, season after season, around the world … if you can see it or dare to acknowledge it!
Gianni was born in 1946 in Italy and was always attracted
to the world of fashion. It was his mother, Francesca, who opened the door and
welcomed him to his eventual destiny. As with many of his peers, it was not
exactly a welcomed prospect that a male wanted to enter into the arena of
fashion but like so many of his counterparts of that era it was in his blood
and he knew it. Gianni was in his glory when he was spending time in his
mother’s shop and allowed to participate within this fantastical world that he
was experiencing and exploring.
One must keep in mind that the time frame in which Gianni
was maturing and evolving was an era when designers were not the marquee for a
brand; it was the brand that reigned supreme and there were multitudes of great
20th century designers who operated in the shadows of a burgeoning
or well established brand. Within this hierarchy or this organizational chart
of designer fashion, Gianni was lucky enough to be recognized as a great
talent. He was quickly scooped up by Donatella Girombelli to design for
Complice, Callaghan and Genny which were brands that were experiencing meteoric
popularity among the fashion crowd. It was here that he cut his teeth and
slowly but surely, Gianni was becoming more well known as the force behind the
brands and very very soon he and his siblings would begin what can only be
deemed as the Versace legacy.
Ken Farrar, friend and confidant.. Gianni’s best feature was
his honesty and his sweetness. Of course he was a genius … and like all
creative people they always they have sides to them that are somewhat difficult.
By the late 70s Versace was establishing himself as an
eponymous brand for both men and women. In my opinion, at the beginning of his
label, the strength of the brand was in menswear as it was just the beginning of
the generation in men’s fashion that was being defined by Giorgio Armani. While
Armani adhered to the deconstruction and easing of the prevailing up tight
men’s silhouette, Gianni set out to smash all the confines and rules of
traditional menswear, whether in clothing or sportswear, by adding the element
of sex! ... and it was here that these 2 designers hit the fork in the road and
diverged. Gianni was paving the way for
what would become part of his DNA and his vocabulary. Gianni was provocative,
erotic and suggestive while Mr. Armani remained serene, discreet, and more
conservative. Gianni had discovered, very simply, that sex sells!
I’m trying to break the border between chic and shock … G.V.
And within a very short period of time Gianni rocked the
fashion world with his brazen and in your face creations. He redefined a
generation of designer fashions for men and women. He drew his references from
the underground world of fetish wear, pop culture and from the highest echelons of terminally chic
fabric patterns a la the house Hermes. It is rarely, if ever, publicized that
when Gianni formed a partnership of sorts with the house of Ratti, it was then
that Gianni and his designs became as
ubiquitous any top tier designer. It was then that he was thrust into and
exploded in the world of major players and it was then that people took notice
of what he presented and what he espoused. It was fashion on his terms. (it was
also then that he was one of the most imitated and copied of designers)
Susanna
Laurie ... model … Although
I did some print work for him I really looked forward to his shows. They were a
great reflection of women in the Eighty's. Sexy power dressing for empowered and
self-assured girls.
During these formative years, you must be aware that
always by his side was his ever faithful sister, Donatella and his older, wiser
and much more level headed brother who oversaw the business end of the growing fashion
empire. Gianni, like all great designers wasn’t interested in how much it cost
as long as he got what he wanted and that included the wildly extravagant
homes, advertising budgets including Avedon as your house photographer or
having 40 or 50 models prance down a runway ... and I mean the likes of Claudia
and Marpessa, Alda, Susannah, Christie, Linda, Hoyt, Tony Spinelli and their
ilk. Gianni was a master of hype and as stated, in your face moments. All of
this added to the S&M overtones and the inclusion of the house logo, the
medusa head, and you have the making of some of the sexiest and some might say trashiest
clothes to ever hit a cat walk.
Alda Balestra (model) remembers Gianni.. I arrived as
a shy provincial girl to see him for the first time….he told me…”.we are having
a show in a few hours…would you like to be in it? I smiled and I said of course YES …. And
asked….what shall I do in your show?
His answer….”just be yourself…do whatever you like” ….. so I did…..I ran
though the runway instead of walking (that took care of my shyness and probably
clumsiness in walking ) and then I took the scarf and the silk belt and
whatever was kind of something very childish to
do….but people liked it and so did Gianni
Gianni was true to his words and true to his philosophies
until the day he died. He married music to fashion via the likes of Elton John
and he may have even been one of the first to promote and endorse celebrities
wearing his fashion via his triumph of supplying Elizabeth Hurley with that
safety pin dress. It was during this time that he also coined what was to
become one of the most hackneyed, and most overused and misunderstood moniker of
fashion … that is term of supermodel! Gianni was a visionary in many ways and
as stated, whether you were a fan of his designs or not, you had to give him
the respect and credit he so rightfully deserved.
I hate designers who live in an ivory tower. I think you have to
be part of this culture, of this music, of our time. If you understand your
time, you are a good designer… G.V.
Now would be a good time to reflect upon the influence
that Gianni Versace has had over the business of fashion during the last
century and into this century. Gianni did it all first, when it was taboo, when
it was frowned upon or when it was misunderstood. He mixed leather and lace, he
used chain maille, he used laser cut leathers and God knows he used hardware as
embellishment. It is today that you can recognize that
Gianni paved the way for the shock jocks of 21st
century fashion i.e. Tisci, Raf, Browne, Vauthier and many more. Gianni is
rarely recognized as the trailblazer that he was and that is a great deficiency
within the world of fashion today. Personally, I believe that Gianni was one of
the most influential and prolific designers of the 20th century and
his influences and inspirations are still in play within today’s business of
fashion, acknowledged or not!
Hoyt Richards… model, friend.. I worked for Gianni in the mid-80s. He
was one of the first big campaigns I did out of Italy. I got to work with
Richard Avedon, Claus Wickrath, etc. It was really my first introduction into
the “big time” of working European A-list designers, photographers and models.
It was a little surreal. I was just a kid right out of college and there I was
working beside Cindy Crawford, Paulina Portzikova and the likes. I was all a
little surreal. His fashion shows were always epic - it was like spectacular
theater.
As is the wont of fashion, the tides were changing and the
overall scope and look of fashion was morphing which pushed Gianni out of the
white hot spotlight but he never lost faith and never quit believing in his
concepts and visons of fashion. In retrospect, the spotlight shone brightly on
him and his collections for 20 years and in fashion speak, that is a few
lifetimes, not to mention an amazing accomplishment.
Unfortunately, with all
this attention came the downside which is the opening of closets with their
skeletons and family dynamics/secrets are being aired like dirty laundry.
Gianni’s lifestyle came under scrutiny, whether it was his lavish spending
habits, his choice of companions or the less than lady like habits of his
increasingly caricatured and very naughty sister. There is a price to pay for
fame and they all paid it as their lives went under the microscope for all to
see.
At the time of Gianni’s death in 1997, the business was
greatly and firmly established within the continuum of fashion albeit that it
might have lost some of its luster, the name Versace would never be forgotten
due to all that it encompassed and for all of its contributions during his
lifetime. What happens next is one of the greatest fears of any hugely recognized
eponymous fashion company and that is who would succeed the namesake designer…
and so we get to the continuing saga of Versace.. the brand! The most telling
event after his demise was that the company was inherited by his niece and not
his sister or brother and no designer was named to succeed him.
There has been great speculation about the future of
Versace, the brand, and in my opinion it was and still is all very much
warranted. Without being a fly on the wall, it is difficult to postulate what
really transpired between Donatella and Gianni and therefore harder to
ascertain whether or not she is even vaguely qualified for the job as a replacement
for her late brother. She herself has said many times she is not a designer!
She may be a stylist but certainly she is no designer, as
I see it, with no technical skills and increasingly I find very little of her
output that can be considered tasteful. Then again, if your tastes lean toward
mistresses of oligarchs, call girls or boys who sell their wares in the shadows
of the night, you might have struck gold! She has yet to find her footing in women’s
collections and she surely doesn’t have a handle on men’s. It is difficult to
come out of the shadows from her late brother but the reality is that she needs
a lot of help whether it be in the women’s or men’s collections.
Her men’s collections tend to bear more of the Gianni
esthetic but then when she steers it off course it just all goes to hell and to
the ghetto. In order for a brand to be a true success, the clothes must sell
but who would buy these clothes. If Donatella thinks the success of a show is
based on male beefcake, she might win a prize but is all so blatant, so forced
and sex for the sake of sex. Gianni had a way of massaging your mindset and his
strengths so that you could understand what he showed while Signora Versace
beats you with a sledge hammer and leaves you dazed and confused; it is all so
gratuitous. She exercises this same kind of hubris in her women’s collections,
haute couture included, and with not much more success. Signora needs to step
back and, in doing so, bring the brand back to its luster and that requires a
more passive design role for her which I feel is not in the cards due to ego.
No matter, the future of the brand, what can be learned is
that Gianni was abundantly talented, good natured, a dedicated family man, loyal
and a showman. His archive is a treasure to behold and should be utilized to
further his legacy in a much more constructive way rather than in this
caricatured GaGa sort of way. The clothes once had a chic about them, they had
a style and no matter how in your face they were, they were never cheap and low
class looking. Gianni was above all a ringleader not a sheep and always the
provocateur and not the punch line for a dirty joke! He expanded our visual
fashion vocabulary with more lasting effect than many other createurs from his
era. He was a star builder as well as a mentor and without hesitation, I can
say that everyone I spoke with about Gianni adored him and that’s quite a
testament to him as designer, employer, friend and brother!
