As promised onto a little lesson in Versace....
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| Elizabeth Hurley in Versace's "Safety Pin" dress 1994 |
I mentioned earlier that it was Elizabeth Hurley's daring choice of the Versace safety pin dress in 1994 that had the legendary designer brand a common household name but, of course there was quite a bit more to it. In fact was Gianni Versace's incredible marketing and approach to the importance of fashion in the public eye that landed the designer house in fashion industry.
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| Gianni Versace |
What Andy Warhol did for the art world in the pop culture phenomenon, Gianni did for fashion. In fact, it's him we can thank (or detest, whichever way you want to look at it) for our obsession with America's Next Top Model or Scouted. Of course famous and incredibly influential models had been around for decades, but it was when Gianni hired all of the worlds top print models to walk in his runway shows the idea of the "Super Model" was born. In his fall/winter 1991 collection Versace sent Cindy Crawford, Naomi Cambpell, Christy Turlington, and Linda Evangelista sauntering down the runway in his wares... need I say more?
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Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington
Versace Fall/Winter 1991 Runway |
Ever since the designer has been known for his drop dead gorgeous red carpet looks. The signature designs of Versace arent necessarily avant garde or out to change the fashion game, they are intended to clothe a femme fatale or at least make you look like one. Since Donatella has taken over the reigns as creative director after Gianni's untimely murder outside of his South Beach mansion few would dispute anyone does it better. (Hence my choice of the leopard printed Versace number for my special date night).
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| Donatella Versace |
In fact, that idea of the catering to that red hot vixen is actually embedded in the very logo of the company. Rooted in mythology the company sports the head of Medusa designed by Gianni Versace himself as the emblem of choice.
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| Versace Logo |
I myself was a little confused about this at first. Why on earth would you chose the depiction of your brand to be a woman who is so ugly she turns people to stone?!? This is where a little academics comes in handy. In the SUPER condensed version of the myth Medusa was in fact a babe, one of the prettiest girls around in fact, pretty enough to attract the attention of the god Poseidon, and the jealousy of Athena. Athena decided to take that jealousy out on Medusa by cutting off her hair (said to be one of her prettiest traits) and replacing it with snakes. From then on Medusa would captivate every man who laid eyes upon her rendering them incapable of looking away, and unfortunately for them, turning them into stone. Translating that into relevant terms for Versace, they create designs that when worn are intended to stop men in their tracks. When you think about it that way, it makes quite a bit more sense, and when you look at some of the great red carpet moments of the brand I would say the have the market cornered.
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| January Jones in Versace at 2011 Golden Globes |
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Angelina Jolie in Versace at the 2011 Golden Globes
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| Jennifer Hudson in Versace at the 2011 Oscars |
and how could I not include one of the most famous red (well, techinically blue) carpet dresses of all time... none other than Jennifer Lopez's plunging jungle inspired ensemble at the Grammy's in 2000.
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| Jennifer Lopez in Versace at the 2000 Grammy's |
