gianni versace

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Giovanni Versace

Giovanni "Gianni" Versace (1946- 1997) was a fascinating and succesful clothing- and theater-costumes designer from Italy, who was to a large extent affected by modern abstract art and the personality of Andy Warhol. Versace is regarded as one of the most vivid and gifted fashion designer of the end of the 20th century.

Early life

He was, together with his siblings Donatella naad Santo, were brought up in Reggio Calabria. Their mother- Francesca Gianni - worked as a dressmaker. Francesca started to create clothing designs at an early age by assisting her mother in decorating the garbs with valuable stones and gold plaits.

Giovanni was an architecture student , before he went (aged 25) to Milan with a desire to work as a fashion designer. He studied architecture before moving to Milan at the age of 25 to work in the sphere of fashion design. Around the year 1975 , his elaborated knits attracted some head-hunters at Callaghan and Genny. He was retained by Complice and his responsibility was to conceive their suede and leather items. Because of Gianni's success in doing it, he decided to create his own collection for ladies, which he publicly presented at the Palazzo della Permanente Art Museum ( Milan); during the autumn of the same year he presented his first men clothing collection.

Biography

Versace thought of himself rather as a tailor than a fashion designer. He propagted his own brand by wearing the clothes he designed; Donatella wore the ladies' collections. Versace created also the legendary image of a woman-wamp: a young, a bit aggressive and sexy woman. Generally speaking, Versace often designed ultra-sexy skin-tight and high-slit garments for “his“ women. He pioneered also in “resuscitating“ the famous cat suit and is attributed to re-introducing the mini skirts, showing that tights can replace trousers, etc. Duirng the beginning of the 1980s he presented metal-meshed clothings, which became an instant success.

A decade later, he created a business empire valued at over 808 million USD. In his campaigns appeared such names as Madonna, Jon Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, Naomi Campbell(as well as the other top-models), Tupac Shakur and many other prominents. He was among the first Italian fashion designers to employ one of the most praised photographers – Richard Avedon - to photograph his propagation campaign.

He is often nick-named as the “Rock&Roll“ fashion designer. Among his preeminent clientele clients are Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Jeremy Irons, Sting, Mickey Rourke, Elton John(who dedicated his The Big Picture album from 1997 to Gianni), etc.; he also designed garments for the deceased Lady Di, and Caroline, Princess of Hanover.

The year 1982 was a turning point in Versace's career – he started to create theatre, opera and even ballet, all done in friendly collaboration with choreographer Maurice Bejart.He “costumed“ As Long as It's Love (1989), Vacanze di Natale (also known as Christmas Vacations, 1991), Cin cin (also known as A Fine Romance, 1991), Kika (1993), Showgirls (1995), Judge Dredd (1995), Shakespeare Shorts (1996, TV series) and Ballet for Life (1997) and even appeared as an actor in Catwalk (1996).

Versace was also asked to create costumes for the TV series Miami Vice, which resulted in his moving to Miami Beach( Florida). In addition, he begun to design jewelry, accessories, and even furniture. Among his most notable awards are: medal Commendatore della Repubblica Italiana (which was given to him on January of 1986 by the then Italian president Francesco Cossiga) and on February of 1993 he was honored the prestigious American Fashion Oscar.

Death

Versace suffered a very unusual form of cancer – the tumor was in his inner ear. Ironically, when his illness begun to improve in the July of 1997, he was in Miami Beach shot by a revel killer Andrew Cunanan who shortly after commited suicide with the same gun.

Acouple of months after this tragedy Versace's brother Santo (who owns 35% of the company) was appointed the new chief executive officer of the Versace empire. The present-day Versace CEO is Donatella.