Versace

 Evening gowns, spring- summer 1994. Black silk with silver and  gold- tone- metal safety- pin ornaments. Courtesy Gianni Versace Archives

Gianni Versace published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1997

I chose to look at the designer book Gianni Versace and chosen this image as i think the dress is  very iconic creation and have been worn for the first time by the famous model Liz Hurley in 1994. In the book shows this dress on the mannequin showing the cut out details and oversized gold safety pins ornaments held together the cut out. “The dress is said to be punk- inspired, “neo-punk”. This dress that the designer Versace made had made the model Liz Hurley become recognisable as the “dress received considerable global coverage in newspaper and magazines around the world” The model benn credited for making the Versace fashion brand a household name. This dress also been worn by famous singer Lady Gaga in 2010.

Versace is very well known about their signature gold baroque motifs printed design on silk fabrics, I think that this dress is another signature design and revolutionary back in 1994 after the little black dress by Chanel in 1920s the designer Versace took this to another level the cut out detail with the gold safety pins fastenings sexy and sophisticated at the same time the slit detail let the skin peak through the garment but not too much cleavage being exposed giving women the confident to express themselves through the invention of the designer and their intention of the design.

I’ve found this similar style black dress that the Versace in a short bodycon style with one long sleeve on the right side with a halter neck line. The design of the dress is more current less revealing but still very sophisticated and more high fashion compare to the other one which looks more classy i think because of the longer lenght of the dress, an how it been worn by the model to the event at that time. This dress was cut split on the side and by the shoulder seam just a glimpse of  leg and cleavage and was held together by clasps instead of a safety pins which i think makes the spacing between the dress narrower and shows less skin. This similar dress was created by the same brand Versace in 2o years later after “That Dress” was made it’s interesting to see how the designer change the styling of the dress play with the shape of the garment  but kept the same iconic feature which what make the dress famous and well known is the gold metal safety pins, or clasps that make the simple black dress into something more specials and recognisable. The brand has created their iconic look which can’t be copied with this features can be uses in so many different ways like skirts, tops, etc which I’ve seeen and similar to Chanel  jackets which the brand uses tweed fabrics to ceates so many different styles of clothing which i would still recognise  it was made by Chanel even without the logo because of what was created by the designer in the first place in the past.

Refernces:

1. Gianni Versace published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1997

2. Williams, Amanda 2014 “THAT dress is back… and this time it’s even racier than ever: New safety pin Versace dress first worn by Liz Hurley hits runway at New York Fashion week“ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2750197/THAT-dress-time-racier-New-safety-pin-Versace-dress-worn-Liz-Hurley-hits-runway-New-York-Fashion-week.html [11/25/17]