Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Gianni Versace (1946-1997) was a fashion designer from Italy. He was openly homosexual. Versace was born to a family that owned a tailoring store in Reggio Calabria, Italy. There, he learned as a little boy to design and make his own clothes and several of his clothes were sold at the family store. Versace got his first shot at fame in 1972, when he was contracted by a company to create a collection. In 1974, he signed with the Complices trademark, and his name was seen on clothes of his designing for the first time. In 1978, he opened his first boutique. In 1985, his Instante collection hit the store stands. Versace became a world-wide famous fashion designer at a time when other names like Ralph Lauren, Oscar De La Renta, Carlota Alfaro, Giorgio Armani and others were also famous. Versace was the personal designer of many other famous persons, such as Courtney Love and more. Versace was murdered on July, 1997, outside his Miami, Florida mansion by Andrew Cunanan, who had been his lover for some time. Cunanan subsequently went fugitive, but he was found ten days later and committed suicide. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.