Pass notes

No 456: Gianni Versace





Age: 47.

Appearance: Rather ordinary, considering what he expects women to look like.

What does he expect women to look like then? In a word, prostitutes.

Really? Yip. The story goes that when growing up in Reggio di Calabria his mother used to shield his eyes every time they walked past the local brothel. “If she hadn’t made such a big deal about it. I wouldn’t have developed such an interest.”

So who’s he dressing like a happy hooker nowadays? Judging by yesterday’s pictures from his Paris couture show, every supermodel and starlet you care to name: from Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer to Hugh Grant’s girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley, best remembered for tumbling out of That Dress (the black safety-pin Versace number she wore to the premiere of Four Weddings And A Funeral).

The press likes him, then? He is, without doubt, the picture editor’s wet dream, but the fashion editor’s nightmare. Too brash, too vulgar. too sexy for words: “The nth degree of show-offness” according to one; “fashion’s premier misogynist” says another.

Elizabeth Hurley, wearing That Dress. Photograph: Richard Young/Rex

It hasn’t done him any harm though. Heavens no. He has become the designer name to drop, and — in particular — the couturier to the (pop) stars.



Like who? Prince, Sting (he did his ‘n’ her outfits for his latest wedding), Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson — and Eric Clapton, until his defection to the subtler charms of Giorgio Armani.

Music fan is he? Yes, but he has eclectic tastes. He’s been designing costumes for La Scala for 10 years and dressed Dame Kiri Te Kanawa for Capriccio at Covent Garden. “She is so beautiful and tall, but she was afraid of fashion. She is happy now,” he said modestly.

So he’s one of those designers who like women? Mmmm, that’s debatable, but he adores his little sister Donatella. He describes the diminutive bottle blonde with the mahogany skin and serious Marlboro habit as “my perfect woman — a mother, a rock star, a hard worker”.

OK, OK, but what are his clothes like? The hype is not for nothing. In the past five years he has come up with some of the most eye-catching, body-revealing stuff around: the short neon shift, the sequinned leggings with movie star motifs, the Baroque patterned silk shirt, the glamorous punk mini dress. They all ended up in the High Street at 0.99, but they all started with Signor Versace.

Not to be confused with: Either of the Saatchis, Giorgio Armani, a pimp.

Most likely to say: “Tighter! Higher! Shorter!”

Least likely to say: “I’m afraid that catsuit only comes in beige.”

The Guardian, 20 July 1994.