Gianni Versace Retrospective opens at Groninger Museum: Prints, pop and power

12 February 2023, by Babette Radclyffe-Thomas

In this week’s blog, Costume Society News Editor Babette Radclyffe-Thomas reviews Groninger Museum’s new fashion exhibition, Gianni Versace Retrospective. Babette gives us a look into the atmosphere, objects, and legacy of the iconic designer which are displayed through the exhibition, as well as additional insights from the exhibition's curators, Saskia Lubnow and Karl von der Ahé.

Groninger Museum is currently hosting a standout, extensive fashion exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of one of the true greats of fashion, Gianni Versace. Having opened 3 December 2022, the retrospective is one of the world’s largest shows of the fashion designer’s work and showcases over 600 pieces from 1989 to 1997, including more than 140 looks, 50 silk shirts and 30 silk scarves.

Curated by Versace experts and guest curators Karl von der Ahé and Saskia Lubnow, a selection of the world’s most famous dresses are on show including that dress famously worn by Elizabeth Hurley (the daring black Versace dress held together by gold safety pins), as well as a stunning silk Atelier Versace gown worn by Diana, Princess of Wales for her renowned Harper’s Bazaar cover shoot. “We are very happy about the two looks from the Metropolitan Museum and the associated storytelling. The "Lady Diana" dress in particular fits perfectly into this time with the special media focus on the British royal family,” the curators share.

The exhibition is a visual and auditory feast, visitors are welcomed by Gianni’s own words, a buzzing soundtrack plays throughout the entire exhibition and items including illustrations, outfits, accessories and fabrics all showcase Gianni’s innovative design approach and his vast array of inspirations from the worlds of popular culture, art, music and mythology that form the base of the exhibition’s curation.

Spread across several floors and 11 rooms in the museum, the exhibition commences with a striking mannequin holding a Versace duvet in the centre of a circular room, mirroring Claudia Schiffer’s L’Espresso cover shot by Richard Avedon. Huge societal changes during the 1980s and 1990s and Versace’s simultaneous multiple stylistic breaks are reflected across the rest of the exhibition. From Greek mythology leading to the invention of his oroton fabric as well as the brand’s signature Medusa symbol to dressing American stars such as Madonna and the influences of Miami’s Art Deco environment, the show celebrates his ability to blend high and low culture.

Versace’s philosophy of female empowerment is encapsulated by Elizabeth Hurley who is quoted in the exhibition alongside her dress stating “unlike many other designers, Versace designs clothes to celebrate the female form rather than eliminate it.”

The launch of ‘The Supers’, the era when supermodels like Cindy Crawford became household names is especially celebrated in the final room of the exhibition. Here, an immense catwalk fills the industrial space, as footage is projected across the wall, and mannequins wear key looks from Versace’s 1991 Freedom collection. Versace sent 109 looks over 47 minutes down the catwalk and this fashion moment is often seen as the birth of the supermodel. 

“Also important to us are the patent leather over knee boots in the installation of the Freedom Show from March 1991, which concludes the exhibition. We have been looking for these boots worldwide for a long time and are delighted to be able to show so many of these pieces that constitute the show,” von der Ahé and Lubnow share.

As well as these pieces, other famous items include Elton John’s Versace suit and Versace’s iconic Andy Warhol-inspired pop art dress which are both on display in the 1990s US pop culture room. Throughout the exhibition, fashion collections are complemented by other items of material culture such as product design, TV show footage and music videos.

One of the most striking elements in the show is the wide array of mannequins on show: “mannequins play a crucial role in communicating the necessary emotions. Some of the mannequins were specially made - for example the mannequin in the entrance with the duvet - and are elaborately coloured. The often-eccentric poses are intended to reflect the lifestyle of the time”, von der Ahé and Lubnow share.

All items on show were sourced from international private collections and marks a collaboration with the leading private collectors of the work of Gianni Versace: Antonio Caravano (with Sabina Albano as collection curator), as well as Salvatore Alderuccio and Franco Jacassi. Jacassi has amassed a collection of 50,000 buttons over the years including those made by Versace which are on show in the ninth room of the exhibition.

Most of the items are owned by private collectors in Europe but von der Ahé and Lubnow are also building up their own archive including clothing, books, catalogues, magazines, perfume and more. The exhibition is not official nor authorised or linked to Gianni Versace S.r.l. and/or to the Versace family.

Groninger Museum has previously hosted exhibitions on fashion luminaries such as Azzedine Alaïa, Vicktor&Rolf and Iris van Herpen. This retrospective opened on December 2nd which would have been Gianni’s 76th birthday and 2022 marks the sad 25th anniversary of the couturier’s untimely death in 1997. “Incidentally, this exhibition of Italy's most famous fashion designers fits perfectly in this building designed by the post-modernist Italian designer Alessandro Mendini,” von der Ahé and Lubnow share.

Gianni Versace Retrospective is on show until 7 May 2023 and this extensive exhibition even has its own Spotify playlist! 

 

To indulge in more costume exhibitions, read one of Babette's past reviews. 

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