Gianni Versace black and white swimwear still with original tags
About the Item
- Designer:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Capri, IT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU186215576692
Gianni Versace
The signature extravagance of legendary fashion designer Gianni Versace — forever aligned with glamour, sex, celebrity and spectacle — can overshadow the Italian couturier’s broad and deep engagement with history and culture. Today, his vintage dresses and gowns, handbags, sunglasses and other accessories look astonishingly fresh and freshly relevant.
More than any designer before him, Versace mined celebrity, music and Pop art for inspiration, and his subversive, maximalist and unabashedly seductive designs infused high fashion with an entirely new ethos. “I don’t believe in good taste,” he once explained. Instead, he had a sexy good time with fashion — as he did with life.
Gianni Versace was born in Calabria, Italy. His mother was a successful dressmaker who employed more than 40 seamstresses. As a child, little Gianni marveled at her workshop, which would become a university of sorts, where he learned the exceptional construction techniques that were at the foundation of his creative expression.
In 1972, at age 25, he moved to Milan to work in fashion. He launched his first collection — and his label — in 1978, with his older brother Santo managing the business concerns. Soon, sister Donatella, whom Gianni dressed and took to discos when she was still a child, joined the family venture, where she had a creative role and managed enormously popular ready-to-wear lines such as Versus.
Vintage Versace — and Gianni Versace Couture, which debuted in 1989 — has become catnip for modern fashion enthusiasts who seek out the now-iconic house codes that originated in the designs of the 1980s and 1990s. His glamorous and seductive apparel — the clingy skirts and slender, strappy party dresses, as well as the erotic magazine ads that publicized them — looms large, but Versace’s art and historical influences were also vast.
Versace was an art collector, and he took on commissions to create costumes for theatrical performances during the 1980s and spoke of looking to numerous cultures for inspiration. The New York Times noted in 1997 that the fashion industry “is now driven by contemporary culture because Mr. Versace made it that way.”
Insiders consider his 1991/1992 Autumn/Winter runway show — which featured supermodels Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista lip-synching George Michael’s “Freedom” — as the moment when the two worlds of fashion and pop culture became one, changing both forever.
Versace's adventurous spirit of design resulted in his creating jewel-toned prints rooted in Grecian motifs, Etruscan symbols, the Italian Baroque and Andy Warholʼs Marilyn Monroe. There were slinky dresses in Oroton, his patented chain-mail textile that draped like satin, and leather bondage ensembles. Sex sold, for both women and men. Wrote the late curator Richard Martin, “[Versace] became the standard-bearer of gay men’s fashion because he eschewed decorum and designed for desire.”
Following Versace’s tragic murder in 1997, Donatella took over the role of artistic director and continued to evolve the house codes with a twist of her feminine and feminist perspective. Today, Santo Versace is chief executive officer of Versace and Donatella is its chief creative officer.
Browse an extraordinary collection of vintage Gianni Versace evening dresses, handbags, day dresses and more on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Pietrasanta, Italy
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 1 day of delivery.
- Chanel Boutique white and black linen gold chain jacketBy Chanel BoutiqueLocated in Capri, ITChanel Boutique white and black linen gold chain jacket white and black linen jacket embellished with gold tone chain and black pendant totally made in fr...Category
1990s French Jackets
- 1980s Vintage White Flower JacketLocated in Capri, IT1980s Vintage White Flower Jacket gold tone rows 4 Embellished faux pearls buttons Totally made in italy in size SCategory
1990s Italian Jackets
- Balenciaga grey cotton sweaterBy BalenciagaLocated in Capri, ITBalenciaga grey cotton sweater Size SCategory
21st Century and Contemporary Sweaters
- Balenciaga white linen shirtBy BalenciagaLocated in Capri, ITBalenciaga white linen shirt Size 38Category
21st Century and Contemporary Shirts
- Moschino multicoloured cotton dressBy MoschinoLocated in Capri, ITMoschino multicoloured cotton dress Size 42Category
21st Century and Contemporary Day Dresses
- Gianni Versace iconic multicoloured cotton shirtBy Gianni VersaceLocated in Capri, ITGianni Versace iconic multicoloured cotton shirt Versace rare indian shirt totally made in Italy in size MCategory
1990s Shirts
- 1980s Bill Blass Navy Blue and White Vintage 80s One Piece Swimsuit BodysuitBy Bill BlassLocated in San Diego, CAChic late 80s BILL BLASS navy blue and white nautical inspired one piece swimsuit or bodysuit ! Gold logo BB embossed buttons up the front and at each side of the waist. Perfect for...Category
1990s American Swimwear
- Hermes Men's Coups de Goua'H Swim Trunks Blue Givre MBy HermèsLocated in Miami, FLHermes long swim trunks featured in Coups de Goua'H print. In Bleu Givre colorway. H design with a gouache technique where the colours seem to be be under water. Trunks have an elast...Category
21st Century and Contemporary French Swim Trunks
- Brigance Swimsuit CoverupLocated in Alford, MAA long beach coverup, c.1970s, by Brigance in sheer white nylon with a vertical striped pattern. Button-down shirt style with drawstring waist. Timeless. Size M.Category
Mid-20th Century American Beachwear
- Emilio Pucci Blue Butterfly Wing Print Bikini Swim Suit with Ruffle TrimBy Emilio PucciLocated in San Francisco, CAEmilio Pucci new with tags blue bikini bathing suit in a print that looks like butterfly wings. Ruffle trim. Halter tie at top and Pucci emblem closure at ...Category
2010s Italian Bikinis
- ROSE MARIE REID c.1950s EMILIO PUCCI Signature Print One Piece Swimsuit / RomperBy Rose Marie Reid, Emilio PucciLocated in Thiensville, WIVintage Rose Marie Reid of California c.1950's Emilio Pucci signature print one piece swimsuit / romper. Multicolor Emilio Pucci striped Sicilian motif signature print in shades of b...Category
1950s American Swimwear
- Jean Paul Gaultier c.1995 Vintage "S&M" Print Bodysuit Swimwear SwimsuitBy Jean Paul GaultierLocated in Naples, FLJean Paul Gaultier c.1995 Vintage "S&M" Print Open Back Bodysuit One- Piece Swimwear Swimsuit Size MCategory
1990s Swimwear