THE BODY IS BACK declared Vogue, thus sounding the death knell for grunge. Of course, la bella figura was never, ever, out of fashion at this Italian house, a point Gianni Versace drove home by making corsetry his focus for the season. When models weren’t wearing stays, they were in slips of dresses featuring ribbon lacing or structured, nip-waisted suits trimmed with hook-and-eye detailing. Luxuriant Veronica Lake hair lent retro appeal to the styling, “proving once again” that Versace was “king of sexy nighttime dressing.”
There were floor-grazing slips, some with delicate drapes; wiggle dresses; and floaty empire-line nightie styles. Novelty prints featuring butterflies and ladybugs added a sense of winking playfulness to the whole. “I want to make people believe in fashion again,” the designer said. In conversation with Vogue, he expanded on his approach: “It’s the body-consciousness of today’s women that gives the return to glamour a real current attitude. It’s all about basic forms with wonderful shapes and a great attention to the cut.”
Dgging through the archives of Gianni Versace‘s work at his eponymous brand, which he founded in 1978, one might find a caption describing the late designer as the “toast of Paris, Miami, and New York.” But really, no matter where he showed—and his destinations also included Los Angeles and Milan— the late Versace designer’s work inevitably made a statement, thanks in no small part to Versace’s close relationships with the supermodels of the day. Among his inner circle were models.
