When news came through of a shooting in Miami last Tuesday, there was a double shock for the majority of fashion admirers. The first was that Italian designer Gianni Versace had been killed. The second that he was gay. Not that the latter piece of information should have come as a surprise. Frankly, in the fashion industry, heterosexual males are something of an exotic rarity. Together with the majority of hairdressers, make-up artists and show producers, most designers are gay, although they usually prefer the fact not to be widely known. In this respect, Versace was no different to his peers.
Since the early 1980s, Gianni Versace had become one of the best-known names in global fashion. The Versace insignia of a gold Medusa head ranks among the most frequently copied logos in the fashion forgery business - an indication of his renown.
Early in his career, Gianni Versace recognised the importance of publicity in helping to build up a profile and increase sales. His post-fashion show parties quickly gained a reputation for being lavish affairs at which guests were offered superlative food and drink before being sent home with an extravagant gift - a leather handbag, perhaps, which might retail for several hundred pounds, or a large and brilliantly-coloured silk scarf. The Versace press office was always assiduous at sending out, well in advance, lists of celebrities attending both the designer's fashion shows and his parties. Similarly, Gianni Versace made a point of remembering any fashion journalist he met and many editors were invited on private tours of his various homes. As a result, magazine and newspapers were full of what we thought were Versace's opinions on fashion and culture and features on the manner in which he lived. Or so we were encouraged to believe. Actually, not a great deal was ever revealed about Gianni Versace who, despite having a carefully tended reputation for being a tireless party-goer, once confessed that his favourite moments were spent at home reading books on art and gardening. He may have counted famous folk such as Elton John and Diana, Princess of Wales, among his friends but he remained a shy man, always looking slightly hesitant and nervous when he stepped out to acknowledge applause at the end of a show. And his private life he preferred to keep completely private. Only in the aftermath of his death has Versace's succession of male lovers become public knowledge. Like many Latin countries, Italy, particularly the southern part in which he was born, is not very tolerant of homosexuality. Perhaps that is why in recent years he came to spend more and more time in Miami Beach, where he bought and restored a mansion worth $6 million. Together with New York and San Francisco, Miami is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the US. It has a large resident population of male homosexuals, constantly supplemented by visiting holidaymakers attracted by the good weather and the city's hedonistic reputation.
In this world, prostitutes such as Versace's suspected killer Andrew Cunanan, already accused of murdering four other men, would easily find a welcome. Originally from San Diego, California, 27-year old Cunanan - who also called himself Andy DeSilva - is known to be handsome, charming and articulate, with a history of befriending older men who would give him money and gifts in return for sex. Since last May he has been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list, following a killing spree believed to have started after Cunanan discovered he was HIV-positive. This is not the sort of person with whom Versace was normally seen consorting in public. Hustlers, even very good-looking ones, are never going to be regarded as glamorous or helpful in encouraging sales. However, some reports suggest that, although not lovers, the two men may have known each other slightly for a number of years. Versace's public persona was supposed only to keep company with people who were good for the business. As a result, he was ambivalent about his homosexuality. He never acknowledged any of his lovers in public and one friend this week described him as "strangely uncomfortable" with being gay.
Nonetheless, for those who knew how to spot them, covert signs of the designer's sexuality could be found in his work. There was, for example, his spring 1993 collection which appeared to have been directly inspired by gay sado-masochistic clothing and as a result caused an outcry. Afterwards he justified the designs by remarking on the "200 socialites in bondage" who had chosen to wear his designs.
Versace always loved to include plenty of black leather in his ranges, usually bedecked in studs and chains and echoing the clothes worn in American gay bars. Metal chain mail was another favourite material with the designer. Even his most famous dress of recent years, that worn by Elizabeth Hurley to the London premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral, looks in retrospect like a further instance of borrowing from popular homosexual clothing, with its provocative glimpses of flesh through ripped fabric held in place by a sequence of giant safety pins. And advertisements for Versace, many of a homoerotic character and usually photographed by Richard Avedon or Herb Ritts, would feature as many nude as clothed bodies. TO some fashion editors - not to mention Versace's great rival in Milan, Giorgio Armani - such an approach reeked of ostentatious vulgarity and even misogyny. Last week, Brenda Polan of the Daily Mail, one of the few dissenting voices among the tributes paid to the late designer, summarised his clothes as "high class hooker style" which "set women back by depicting them as sexual toys".
True, throughout most of his career, he sold sex at its most explicit with clothes which clung to those parts of the body they did not actually expose. This is why Versace so appealed to pop stars such as Madonna, who was photographed last year by Richard Avedon for one of the designer's publicity campaigns. Other entertainers often seen wearing Gianni Versace designs include Demi Moore, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi and Joan Collins, none of whom could be described as bashful or retiring. Bright clashing colours and lots of gilt were two of the distinguishing features of Versace's baroque work for many years although in recent seasons, he produced more subdued collections. Understatement and discretion tended not to feature much in his designs. He liked boldness and famously once pronounced: "I like to dress egos. If you haven't got an ego today, you can forget it."
The success of this approach is reflected in the impressive growth of the Versace company. Set up by the designer in 1978 and run by him and his two siblings Santo and Donatella as a private company, Versace last year sold almost £600 million worth of goods directly and indirectly, with pre-tax profits of more than £60 million. Along with Armani and Dolce & Gabbana, the label is one of Italy's fashion giants, making as much from licensing agreements and perfumes as it does from clothing. But like other Italian businesses, it has been the subject of endless speculation and scandals far removed from the smart image of fashion. The closest comparative death to Gianni Versace's was that of Maurizio Gucci, shot dead in Milan two years ago. Grandson of Guccio Gucci who had founded the eponymous leather and fashion business at the turn of the century, Maurizio in the years before his death was embroiled in a bitter family feud which almost led to the destruction of the business.
He was commonly believed to have been killed by the Mafia, although earlier this year it emerged that his former wife Patrizia was responsible for organising the murder. The Versace empire has not managed to remain immune to the rumour machine. Three years ago, Versace sued an English newspaper for libel over suggestions about his company's business practices and won substantial damages. Later in an interview he denied any association with the Mafia, commenting "That can hurt you. It can hurt your family values." To many observers, no matter how well his business was doing, Gianni Versace's way of life seemed inexplicably lavish. In addition to the Miami mansion, there was a palazzo in Milan, a lakeside home in Como and, most recently, a $7 million townhouse in New York. The vast shops, such as that opened in 1992 on London's Bond Street, also looked as though they cost more than could ever be recouped in sales. There was talk of publicly floating the company on the New York stock exchange but this now seems unlikely. Like many other Italian fashion houses in the early 1990s, Versace was caught up in a government inquiry into bribery and tax evasion. Although there was no evidence of wrong-doing on the part of Gianni Versace, his brother Santo was found guilty of paying bribes to revenue guards; he is currently appealing his conviction.
And throughout the present decade, there were persistent stories about Versace being infected with the HIV virus, particularly after he seemed to have lost weight and cut back on public appearances. Eventually he announced his ailment to be a rare cancer of the inner ear. But fear of illness - particularly AIDS - is a prevailing feature of the fashion industry. When an entire multi-million pound business is dependent on the creative abilities of a single individual, constant good health - and good cheer - is an absolute imperative. Three years ago another Italian designer, Franco Moschino, died of an AIDS-related illness but this was not made public until after his demise. Too much is at stake to risk offering the consumer anything other than an endless diet of selective information. Gianni Versace knew this to be the case and throughout his career he was careful to offer outside observers only a carefully air-brushed image. Now that he is dead, a different and potentially far more complex portrait of the designer is likely to be uncovered.
