Gianni Versace Essay, Research Paper

Gianni Versace was born in Reggio Calabria, Italy on December 2, 1946. He grew up with his brother Santo and his sister Donatella in very competitive relationship Reggio Calabria was a somber town that was very unlikely to produce on of fashions most extravagant designers of all time. When Gianni was eighteen he began working for his mother at her tailoring shop. He learned how to tailor there, and throughout his career would continue to refer to himself as a tailor, rather than a designer. He worked with his mother until he was twenty-five years old. Then, in 1972, Gianni was called to work for the Florentine Flowers clothing factory of Lucca. By the following year he was working as a ready-to-wear designer for Genny and Callaghan. By 1974, he conceived, designed, and helped to launch the Complice label. He then began designing for several firms. Gianni then teamed up with his brother Santo and presented his first signature collection for women at the Palazzo della Permanente Art Museum of Milan. His first menswear collection followed in September of the same year. In the late 80 s his sister Donatella joined the company. Her impact was tremendous; the three formed a creative style that we all know today as Versace. It has been called bold and exuberant, and it is said to walk the fine line between glamour and downright flashiness. Gianni Versace made a name for himself as he had always dreamed. By the mid 90 s he was at the peak of his career. Suddenly on July 25, 1997, Versace was assassinated in front of his home on South Ocean Drive in Miami. He was gunned down at point blank with a .40 caliber gun. For nine days the world watched as the Miami Beach police and the FBI investigated the murder. The suspect Andrew Cunanan was searched and searched for. He became known as a chameleon-like-suspect. The police believed Cunanan had many different looks. Nine days later police received a call from a caretaker of a houseboat on Miami Beach. The caretaker, Fernando Carreira, reported to the Miami Beach police that he had noticed a pair of sandals on the deck and the shades were drawn. He suspected an intruder. When he entered the houseboat he was greeted with a gunshot. At 8:15 PM tear gas was fired through the bedroom window of the houseboat. At 8:30 PM police officers stormed in. At 8:32 PM Andrew Cunanan was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth. His hair was cropped short, and he had a closely trimmed beard. He was wearing only a pair of gray boxer shorts, and was propped up by two pillows on the bed. He used the same .40 gun to kill himself as he did nine days earlier to kill Versace. While the world was pleased with Cunanan’s death, they were still devastated by Versace’s. At his stores worldwide, fans and colleagues reacted with great sadness. People from all over came to lay flowers at the front of Versace’s Miami Beach mansion. Many prayed and left notes and gifts in his honor. At age fifty, Versace had reached the top of the fashion world. He designed dresses for Princess Diana, Lisa Marie Presley, and for Elizabeth Hurly, just to name a few. At his funeral, admirers and friends gathered to pay their last respects to the much-loved designer. Some of the people there included sting, Elton John, and Princess Diana. Donatella, worked, loved, and lived with Versace all her life, has taken over as chief designer of the company. Her first collections have met with considerable success from fashion editors and clients. Although Donatella will continue the business, it will never be the same without the inspiration of Gianni.