Gianni Versace’s archive is not just relevant today. It is the future of the maison

On his first day as Versace’s creative director, Pieter Mulier posted an image of the Medusa on Instagram. This was a simple yet significant gesture, as it signalled his intention to draw inspiration from Gianni Versace’s archive to reimagine the future of the fashion house. Gianni chose that symbol in 1993, inspired by a marble head he saw in Reggio Calabria, the city where he was born and where he took his first steps in his mother Franca’s tailoring shop. Magna Grecia, the Mediterranean, southern folklore, classicism and popular culture had always played an integral role in his imagination.

As with any change in creative direction, examining Gianni Versace’s archive is the most effective way to predict the brand’s future path, particularly since its acquisition by Prada. This is also suggested by the retrospective at the Musée Maillol in Paris, which is open until 6 September and is the first major French exhibition dedicated to the designer since 1986. Through over one hundred and twenty silhouettes and hundreds of archival materials from private collections, the exhibition portrays a designer who cannot be reduced to a single iconography.

Baroque occupies a central place, naturally, but the exhibition’s merit in repositioning it within a much broader context is commendable. Before the gold and black prints that became synonymous with Versace came Italian modernism, Greek sculpture, opera, contemporary art, photography and experimentation with materials. Gianni absorbed references from far-flung places and transformed them into an instantly recognisable style. Andy Warhol coexists with Canova, and Botticelli with glossy magazine culture, while images by Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Helmut Newton helped to create a new vocabulary of glamour.

This is also why his fashion remains so relevant today. While Milan was codifying an idea of rigorous and professional elegance in the 1980s, Versace worked with leather, metal, architectural constructions and silhouettes that altered the formalism of the era. Last September, Dario Vitale revived this approach in his – unfortunately – only runway show for the fashion house, breathing new life into the colours, proportions, and excesses of the brand’s early years. Even the choice of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, with models descending a spiral staircase, seemed to evoke Atelier Versace’s legendary presentations at the Ritz on Place Vendôme.

The exhibition dedicates ample space to the most radical seasons of his career. Bondage, punk, safety pins transformed into luxury objects, leather and studs tell the story of a designer who used provocation as a creative tool. His 1990s collections captured the cultural tensions of the time, engaging with music, activism, sexuality and urban subcultures. The runway became a storytelling space before it became a representation space.

It was also where the supermodel phenomenon was born. Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer evolved from mere interpreters to become the protagonists of a new era in fashion. The same happened with Madonna, Elton John, Prince, Sting, Elizabeth Hurley and Diana, Princess of Wales. Versace recognised earlier than many others that pop culture, celebrities and fashion were converging into a single visual system. Miami, with its Casa Casuarina and the vibrant energy of South Beach, completed the picture, providing a backdrop for a sunny, sensual and theatrical aesthetic that would come to define an entire era.

Paris runs through the narrative like a continuous thread. Despite helping to shift the centre of gravity of fashion towards Milan, Versace recognised the French capital as the ultimate stage. In 1989, he established Atelier Versace and opted to showcase high fashion during Couture Week. The shows at the Ritz quickly became legendary. He appeared before the public there for the last time in July 1997, just a few days before his assassination in Miami.

For this reason, the final section of the exhibition, aptly named “Simply Beautiful” – as announced on the cover of Time in 1995, celebrating the return of minimalism – is perhaps the most surprising. In the final collections, the prints recede, the cut takes centre stage, and the construction is clearer. The boldness and sensuality that have always characterised his work remain, but are filtered through a new essentialism. This is a lesser-known Gianni Versace, who is particularly interesting today.

Mulier will present his first collection at the beginning of 2027, bringing Atelier Versace back to the couture runways after a ten-year absence. Given his background in architecture, it is inevitable to wonder which chapters of the archive he will choose to reactivate. Nearly thirty years after Gianni’s death, the Musée Maillol exhibition suggests that the most contemporary chapter of his legacy lies in his final collections, where form took precedence over noise. For the future of the fashion house, this could be a starting point rather than a conclusion.