Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace was an Italian fashion designer, socialite and businessman.
27 Facts About Gianni Versace
2.
Gianni Versace was the founder of Versace, an international luxury-fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-up, home furnishings and clothes.
3.
Giovanni Maria Versace was born in the city of Reggio Calabria on 2 December 1946 and grew up with his elder brother Santo Versace and younger sister Donatella Versace, along with their father and dressmaker mother, Francesca.
4.
Gianni Versace was strongly influenced by ancient Greek history, which dominates the historical landscape of his birthplace.
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Gianni Versace attended Liceo Classico Tommaso Campanella, where he studied Latin and ancient Greek, without completing the course.
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Gianni Versace began his apprenticeship at a young age at his mother's sewing business, which employed up to a dozen seamstresses.
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Gianni Versace became interested in architecture before moving to Milan at the age of 26 to work in fashion design.
8.
Gianni Versace is quoted as saying, "I don't believe in good taste", which was reflected in his "brazen defiance of the rules of fashion".
9.
From 1978, Gianni Versace built the company with the support of his family, employing his sister Donatella as vice president and his brother Santo as president of the company.
10.
Gianni Versace would come to employ Donatella's husband, Paul Beck, as menswear director.
11.
Gianni Versace was very proud of his southern Italian heritage and infused his designs with motifs inspired by historical fashion and art movements, especially Graeco-Roman art.
12.
Gianni Versace allowed his love for contemporary art to inspire his work, creating graphic prints based on the art of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.
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In 1982, Gianni Versace expanded the business into jewelry and housewares, designing luxury furnishings, china and textiles for the home.
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Gianni Versace was unusual in retaining complete creative control over all aspects of his company.
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Gianni Versace became known for employing celebrities in his marketing campaigns and seating them in the front rows of his fashion shows, the first to do so.
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Gianni Versace is credited with inventing the supermodel vogue of the 1990s, by discovering and featuring major supermodels like Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista, all of whom he featured both on the runway and in advertisement campaigns.
17.
At the time of his death, Gianni Versace's empire was valued at $807 million and included 130 boutiques across the world.
18.
Gianni Versace was a collaborator at the La Scala Theatre Ballet in Milan and designed the costumes for the Strauss ballet Josephslegende in 1982 and Donizetti's Don Pasquale.
19.
Gianni Versace designed the costumes for five Bejart Ballet productions: Dionysos, Leda and the Swan, Malraux ou la Metamorphoses des Dieux, Chaka Zulu and the Ballet du XXme Siecle.
20.
Gianni Versace designed Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney on their 1983 "Say Say Say" video and Elton John's costumes for his The One Tour.
21.
Gianni Versace met his partner Antonio D'Amico, a model, in 1982.
22.
Gianni Versace was known for adoration towards his nieces and nephews: Santo's two children, Francesca and Antonio, and Donatella's two children, Allegra and Daniel.
23.
Usually, Gianni Versace would have an assistant walk from his home to the nearby News Cafe to get his magazines, but on this occasion, he decided to go himself.
24.
Gianni Versace's murder was witnessed by his former UK senior stylist, Dean Aslett, who was on vacation in South Beach, Miami, and had partied with Gianni Versace a few days prior.
25.
Gianni Versace was the last victim of Andrew Cunanan, a spree killer who had earlier murdered four other men.
26.
However, Gianni Versace's family has always steadfastly denied that the two ever met.
27.
Gianni Versace's body was cremated and his ashes returned to the family's estate near Cernobbio and buried in the family vault at Moltrasio cemetery near Lake Como.