A Fashion Story… Gianni Versace
By Karen Beishuizen
Giovanni Maria Versace was born on December 2, 1946, in Reggio, Calabria, Italy. His mother was a seamstress and Gianni grew up watching his mother work on designs in her boutique. It served as an early training for him and he created his first dress when he was just nine years old.
A teacher caught him sketching famous stars in gowns when he was in fifth grade. Versace told in an interview that the teacher called his mother to tell her that her son was a sex maniac. His mother answered that Gianni was not and that he just loved clothes.
In 1966 he started working for his mother but Gianni wanted more. He moved to Milan in 1972 and had stints with Genny, Complice by Genny, Mario Valentino and Callaghan.
In 1978 he founded his own company, his brother Santo took up running the financial side of the business and Donatella became a junior designer and vice president.
With the opening of his first boutique in Milan in 1978, Gianni almost became an instant hit: His clothes expressed sensuality, sexuality with bright prints and loud colors. His motto was that clothes are not an uniform but for people to dress in their own style.
Celebrities flocked from all over the world for him to dress them: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Grace Jones, Elizabeth Taylor, Tupac Shakur, Sylvester Stallone and Sir Elton John. He became close friends with them and they promoted his designs.
He hired top models to walk the runway for him: Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford, like in his fall/winter 1991 runway show, lip-syncing to George Michael’s hit song “Freedom!”.
Elizabeth Hurley was looking for a dress to wear at the movie premiere of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in 1994 and nobody could help her. She called the Versace office and an assistant grabbed the only dress available: The black Versace safety pin dress… The rest is history.
His last fashion show was in Paris on July 6, 1997, just nine days before he was murdered.
He was at the height of his career when serial killer Andrew Cunanan fatally shot him on July 15, 1997, on the steps of Gianni’s Miami Beach mansion “Casa Casuarina”.
The fashion world mourned not only the loss of a great designer, but the end of an era. His memorial service was held at Milan’s Cathedral on July 22, and was attended by more than 2,000 people, including a devastated Donatella, Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Elton John and Princess Diana (who would be killed in a car accident a little over five weeks later).
Donatella took the helm of the fashion empire and less than three months after Gianni’s death, she presented a new show at Milan’s Fashion Week with Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan, Miuccia Prada and Karl Lagerfeld in the audience offering Donatella their support.
Gianni’s beloved Casa Casuarina is now a boutique hotel with 13 luxurious guest suites and a restaurant called Gianni’s. People from around the world still show up and put down flowers to mourn his death every year.
We are now in 2026 and his murder still sends shock waves around the world. A murder, so senseless, that took away one of the most talented designers the world had ever seen.
His legacy lives on in his designs, his perfumes, and the truth about Gianni Versace:
He was a rebel and rebels never die.
They live on.
Forever.
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