Gianni Versace – pride of Calabria
“Reggio is the kingdom where the fairy tale of my life began: the tailoring of my mother, the haute couture boutiques. The place where, as a child, I began to appreciate the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, where I began to breathe the art of Ancient Greece” (Gianni Versace)
The stylized medusa engraved in a circle from the Greek border is the symbol chosen by the Maison Versace to express classicism that despite trials, characterized the collections by Gianni Versace. Just like its glossy raincoat concealing a classic cut. Born in Calabria in 1946, since a child he feeds himself of fashion in the small atelier of his mother and, at twenty-five, determination and passion led him to Milan to work with brands as Genny, Complice and Callagan.
Just six years later, his first collection shows its beauty in the city of the Madonnina (Milan). It is a success. La Scala theatre in 1981 asked the designer to design the wonderful costumes for Josephslegende of Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler Lieb und Leid, Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti and for Dyonisos, directed by Maurice Bejart. We are in 1995: he launchs the young line, Versus, at the Metropolitan in New York; it starts collaborations with world famous photographers: Avedon, Newton, Penn, Weber signed the most famous advertising campaigns with supermodel-testimonials as Naomi Campbell , Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford, singer Madonna and Elton John.
The fashion house, in constant evolution, is contaminated with seemingly different worlds and styles as fashion, rock’n’roll, art and theater, but also acquaintances and decisions Versace probably influence its fate. In those years, the designer decided to move to Miami Beach in a beautiful villa of the 30’s, where in 1997, is brutally murdered by gunshots. The reasons for the murder are still unclear, but his death did not extinguish the creativity and stylistic freedom of the House, that still captivate the international fashion, just like the medusa that used to fascinate the eternal Gianni Versace.
