
12/02/2023
Happy Birthday to Gianni Versace (1946 - 1997)
Born , Versace was called a genius and often accused of going over the top. So prolific was Versace that it is nearly impossible to single out one design as his most memorable: perhaps his safety-pin dress, famously worn by Elizabeth Hurley; or his influential leather ensembles, which were strapped, studded, and bondage-inspired; or the colorful, exuberant Versace prints that revealed his unabashed love of art. Versace was bold, sometimes baroque. He brought the theatricality of costumes he designed for stage and ballet to his runway collections, and while his references were often historical, he dismissed the idea that he was nostalgic. “I have a sense of the future that pervades my fashions,” he said.
This ensemble from autumn/winter 1992-1993 was lent by Gianni Versace, SpA to MFIT’s 2005 exhibition, “Glamour: Fashion, Film, Fantasy.”