Exhibition poster
Greek by Beatrice Brandini
A beautiful exhibition in Paris celebrates the great creative genius of Gianni Versace. Thirty years have passed since his tragic and unexpected passing (in August 1997 in Miami), leaving a huge void in fashion and beyond.
He would have turned eighty this year; who knows how many magnificent things he would have accomplished in the meantime?
Images from the Gianni Versace retrospective
From June 5th to September 6th, the Musée Maillol in Paris will host a major retrospective dedicated to Gianni Versace, not just a talented designer, but an aesthete, a visionary, a creator of emotion and beauty.
Image from the Gianni Versace retrospective
Curated by Saskia Lubnow and Karl von der Ahé, together with choreographer Nathalie Crinière, known for her grand stage designs for La Galerie de Dior, this promises to be a major exhibition, showcasing 450 pieces. Original creations, accessories, sketches, decorative and designer objects, videos, and photographs—the complete universe of the master Versace, whose career, which began in his family’s tailoring business in Calabria, blossomed on runways around the world, with forays into art and ballet, theater, and film.
Cindy Crawford (1991) and Stephanie Seymour (1992) photographed backstage
Paris pays homage to him, perhaps as a tribute to his first choice of location for the “Atelier Versace” haute couture show, way back in 1989. At the Ritz Hotel on Place Vendôme, no presentation since would have been worthy.
Shooting Gianni Versace, 1994 advertising campaign
Versace, with his codes ranging from Ancient Greece to Baroque, from Pop Art to Rock, a thousand explorations, a thousand inspirations, but all coherent and clear, enough to identify a Versace garment even from a thousand meters away.
He brought Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel to his clothes, he worked with the world’s greatest photographers—Penn, Avedon, Demarchelier, Testino, Newton—every one of his print campaigns was a joy for the eyes and the heart. He strongly desired and promoted models, before they were called top models. A friend of Madonna, Elton John, Prince, Grace Jones… and the beautiful, late Princess Diana.
A beautiful image of Gianni Versace in his atelier-studio
Versace, who never held back, giving himself completely and treating us spectators to a magnificent spectacle.
These were the designers of a few decades ago, talented people with a clear and precise poetics. You didn’t necessarily love it or share it completely, but it was still interesting and different. This was fashion with a capital F, which I struggle to recognize and rediscover today, except in very rare cases.
Enjoy your life!
Beatrice