On the 25th anniversary of his tragic passing, we revisit some of the genius designer’s creations, revived on the backs of Bella Hadid, Kim K, and Lady Gaga
It’s almost impossible to read about Gianni Versace’s assasination without the added description of “on the steps of his Miami mansion”. That even the darkest moment in Versace’s history was laced with glamour is testament to the way in which the house pushed luxury fashion into the spotlight. It was horrifying – and heartbreaking for those who were touched by Gianni’s genius – but the image of his own blood trickling from the palazzo’s iron-clad gates was a moment that even cinema would struggle to cook up. During the label’s SS98 show, which had been staged just three weeks prior to his murder, Naomi Campbell stalked a lucite catwalk with a shotgun clasped in outstretched arms.
It was a prophetic twist seemingly plundered from Greek tragedy, with Medusa's shriek frozen into fashion history. In his flirtations with S&M, statuesque metal mesh, brash Rococo prints, and Warholian showpieces, he was as innovative and revolutionary as Gabrielle Chanel and Cristóbal Balenciaga. But it was Gianni’s coalescing of fashion and pop culture that continues to lay the blueprint for fashion today. He transformed haughty couture salons into a global circus, lining his front rows with the likes of Prince, Madonna, and Tupac. And then there were the supermodels – Naomi, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Cindy Crawford – who formed a traffic-stopping pantheon both on the runway and in legendary advertising campaigns shot by Richard Avedon and Steven Meisel.
Those images – breathlessly rehashed even today – have secured Gianni’s legacy for a new generation of fashion fans. But it would be remiss not to mention Donatella, who, in forging her own path, has erected a monument in his memory. Two decades after Naomi’s stint as huntress, the designer debuted a triumphant collection in which she unabashedly referenced the house’s past. As models marched in formation, a disembodied voice rang overhead, “this is a celebration of a genius / this is the celebration of an icon / this is a celebration of my brother / imagine a world without his risk-taking / his innovative genius / and above all / his allegiance to women.” As the curtain fell, revealing his muses rendered in gold, Donatella and Gianni sent hairs on end, and pop culture into a tailspin.
It was a prodigious opening of the archives, from which point Gianni’s designs began to propagate the red carpets all over again. There was a brief period in 2019 when Kim Kardashian exclusively dressed in his inventions, travelling through 1992, 1996, 1997, and 1998. And with archival scoops an increasing coup for celebrity stylists, Gianni’s creations have been reincarnated on the backs of Zendaya, Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, and Bella Hadid, among so many others. Twenty-five years since his untimely passing, the Versace name is just as weighted as it’s ever been, its women born and reborn again, but always in Gianni’s making. Below, we take a look at some of the late-designers monumental collections through their most recent protagonists.
Kim Kardashian in Versace AW91
Perhaps one of the most iconic of Gianni’s fashion pageants, AW91 saw Linda, Cindy, Naomi, and Christy stride arm-in-arm down a tiled catwalk lip-syncing to George Michael’s Freedom! 90. Having featured in the video months prior, it was the ultimate cross-pollination of fashion and pop culture, mining the space between the high and low. Acid fluoro dresses, spike-heeled boots, and velvet leggings came head-to-head with Rococo scarves, as a collage of classical Roman figures and opera characters proliferated beaded boleros and embroidered evening looks. And more recently, Kim Kardashian wore one of the collection’s finale cut-out columns to New York’s AmFar charity gala.
Dua Lipa in AW92
At the 2022 edition of the Grammys, Dua Lipa wore a dress created 30 years prior. A leather harness affixed with golden buckles, chains, straps, and studs, she was every bit the high fashion dominatrix, plucked from Gianni Versace’s infamous Miss S&M collection of 1992. Though the collection consisted of other themes, paying homage to American fashion designer Charles James and Buffalo Bill, it was the sado-masochism that people remembered. It was lambasted by critics at the time, with Cathy Horan saying “only a complacent or compliant spectator could find anything worthwhile in this bondage farce.” Vulgar though it may have been, it sealed Versace’s image as brash, carnal, and scandalous. So much so that Donatella chose to wear a piece from the collection to the 1993 Met Gala.
Zendaya in Versace AW96
First worn on the runway by Anna Klevhag, Zendaya stepped into one of Gianni’s inventions from his AW96 collection for the virtual Green Carpet awards. The chocolate, sheer-stoned gown was part of an offering that showcased the house’s ability to key into the zeitgeist, offering all the minimalism that the 90s woman was so in thrall to. But this is Versace after all, and so underwear slips were festooned in rhinestones and serpentine trims of lace, making a boudoir out of the banal. A creature of contrasts, Gianni paired these looks with woolen military jackets, while pumpkin-coloured tights were styled with sky blue heels. A yellow iteration of Zendaya’s floor-length beaded transparency became the calling card of the season, fronted by Kate Moss in an accompanying ad campaign.
Lady Gaga in Atelier Versace AW97
At the height of her Born this Way era, Lady Gaga attended Europride to give an impassioned speech in support of LGBTQ+ rights. It’s fitting that she chose to wear one of Gianni’s designs for the occasion, his own sexuality never a source of shame, even when AIDS was forcing public figures into the closet. Gaga stepped onto the Europride podium in a horn-shouldered piece from the designer’s final Atelier collection, where models were wrapped in black sheaths, leather, and Byzantine insignia. It toed the line between the churchly (high white collars and dangling crosses) and the profane (bias-draped evening dresses and metal mesh wedding gowns). Nine days later, on 15 July 1997, Gianni was killed on the steps of his South Beach mansion by a psychotic spree killer.
Bella Hadid in a custom creation from 1987
Armed with the pulling power of Law Roach, Bella Hadid walked onto the croisette in a mammoth gown first made by Gianni Versace for a Teatro alla Scala production of the opera Salome. With its peplum waistline and dramatic back bow it chimed with the wider body of work Gianni was pushing at the time – he told New York Times Magazine that his SS87 collection was a “turning point”. “I’m bored with tight, sexy clothes. There has to be something else,” he said. But this look also dins with some of Gianni’s deepest passions: opera, classicism, the high arts. Though his work is remembered for its more salacious qualities, he was a major patron of young artists, and often cited the choreographer Maurice Béjart, playwright Eugene Ionesco, and Truman Capote as major inspirations alongside prostitutes and tabloid heavyweights. With its glaring Medusa, Versace has always been anchored in the past, but, lest we forget, her eyes have seen the future.