The 1970’s begun to expose us to the potential of the world that we have now, in the 21st century: a world where women are not seen simply as adornments in a man’s world, a world where a gay man can walk free without threat or fear of being abused for his sexuality, and a world where a man inspired by fashion can create a multi-million dollar empire in the capital city of fashion, Milan. These simple things, that we take for granted, were all made possible by man who loved to challenge the norms of the 1970's society. Gianni Versace. He changed the world as it was known with fashion.  “Don’t make fashion own you”, he said, “You decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way you live.” He empowered himself through fashion, and his message can empower us all.

Gianni Versace, born December 2nd, 1946 in Reggio Calabria, Italy, grew up with his elder brother, Santo and younger sister Donatella, along with their father, and dressmaker mother, Francesca.  Versace started his career as his mother’s apprentice, learning a skill that fuelled a passion for luxury garments; he learnt how to sew. Who would’ve thought that learning the simple skill of passing a thread through a piece of fabric with a sharp, cold, metal needle would be the first step to enabling Versace to empower women and change the gay community, igniting a creative flame in Versace which burnt until the end.

In 1973, Versace became the designer of "Byblos" and presented his first signature collection at the Palazzo Della Permanente Art Museum of Milan.  In 1979, Versace built his first boutique in Via Della Spiga, Milan.  In an era where women were seen as objects, accessories on the arm of a wealthy man, Versace embraced the beauty in every woman. His designs placed women at the centre of the tableaux, as he crafted clothes designed to teach them how to feel comfortable in their own skin.

Versace embraced the beauty of mixed media in his designs. Hard leather was embellished with sparkling Swarovski diamonds, the brutality of metal sat next to the delicacy of seductive lace. He embraced the idea of every aspect of life being equally beautiful within clothing; as if the women were lace, homosexuals’ diamonds, and men hard leather. Like a puppeteer, Versace gently coerced each element to work symbiotically to create something beautiful and elegant, fragmented and ugly.

Versace snatched the key to the door of a great era which allowed women to be seen as equal. He unlocked that door, and told every woman, from Madonna, to Princess Diana not just to wipe their feet, but to take off their shoes, soiled by the oppression they had been trudging through and exchange them for the beauty which had been trapped inside them. Princess Diana broke free of the chains which had been silencing her, in a one-shoulder, tightly-fitted blue silk dress in effort to rebel against the diktats of royal commands. Whilst Madonna embraced sheer lace which enhanced her beauty and allowed her to take control of her image in the music industry, empowering women to not be oppressed by men and to love themselves in a time when it seemed forbidden. In just ten years from being catapulted into the world of fashion, Versace had completely rewritten the script women had been living by, enabling them to become better versions of themselves, and embrace being different. Versace himself, however, was still living in the shackles of his secrets. The man who changed the game for women all over the world, was still oppressed by his own repressed identity. He was gay. 

The man who seamlessly taken on the impenetrable wall of the objectification of women and smashed it, was still uncomfortable in his own skin. He did not live as an openly gay man. However, his battle with his own demons was thought to be have been fought and won in 1982 when he met his partner, Antonio D’Amico. With the decision to live life openly out, Versace seemed untouchable. Not only had he promoted the equality of women but also challenged something so much bigger and so much more taboo. Gianni Versace became a figurehead for the entire LGBT community decades before it received the recognition it deserved. His entire business was swimming in the ability to succeed against prejudice, at the forefront of every changing aspect of the world and Versace’s ability to become honest about his own identity, in the same way he had been enabling others, only grew his business further. Clients from Naomi Campbell and Joan Collins swiftly joined Princess Diane and Madonna, alongside the never-ending list of empowered women that were unleashed by Versace’s tasteful creations. 

And then, along came… Elton John, a man commended for being different; a man  who took hold of the reigns for society, and enabled himself to become an idol for the music industry due to his decision to be dressed byVersace for his 1991 tour which encapsulated the image that we now recognise as Elton John’s trade marked style.

Five years after moving to Florida to join the upbeat life of models, musicians and actors, Versace went for coffee. Waking at 6am, he slipped out of his ocean-drive mansion to walk to get a coffee, before grabbing the latest issue of Vogue and the New Yorker and turning back home. As he walked up each marble step to his front gate he walked further away from his murderer but closer to his death. Unobserved, a29-year-old man, stood behind Versace, in knee length shorts, a grey tank draped over his body, a 40-Caliber pistol in his hand. Two gunshots echoed across the world. A bullet wound hit London, Paris and Milan; Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Princess Diana and Elton John, and Versace’s two siblings, Donatella and Santo. 

Versace was shot twice, in the head.

He died.

Versace’s killer, Andrew Cunanan, targeted Versace because he was gay. Cunanan had also murdered four other men. On July 23rd, 1997, less than two weeks after Versace was found dead on the crimson stained steps of his Florida home, his killer was found dead on a houseboat in Miami Beach. He was targeting homosexual people because he believed people didn’t care about them. He was wrong.  Not only did his immediate family and friends care about Versace, but more than two thousand people filtered into the Duomo Cathedral to celebrate his life, many of them proudly exhibiting the years of work that Versace put in to changing the lives of many. 

Versace was the cold metal needle passing through the hard fabric of 1970’s society, with the golden thread of powerful men and women by his side. Versace changed the world.