Interview

KRAVITZ: So I’ve been thinking about what to ask you, and I wanted to stick to things I never really knew about you. When we’re together we talk about family and our personal lives more than work. But I know that for me, fashion and music all started at home. I first learned about fashion by going into my mother’s closet. I used to put on her boots and her scarves and dress up as Jimi Hendrix. What was it like for you as a child? Were you playing dress-up all the time?

VERSACE: I have to say, I grew up with fashion because my mother was a seamstress, and she had an atelier. She would cut the first pattern, and then she had people working for her. So I grew up in an atelier, watching people all around me sewing. I was fascinated. When my mother did fittings for her clients, I was hiding, looking at these beautiful ladies try on these fantastic clothes. I was dreaming as a small child to try these clothes on myself. And, of course, growing up with Gianni, he brought me even further into it. Gianni was almost 10 years older than I, but he was in love with fashion. When I was about 10 or 11, Gianni started to play with me being his model. [laughs] He’d try clothes on me and ask, “What do you think?” He was pushing me to do my hair lighter—to bleach it. So I was a fashion addict by the time I was 11 years old. I’d wear a miniskirt and patent-leather boots.

KRAVITZ: Wow. At 11?

VERSACE: Yeah. I looked almost as I do now, the only difference being that I was 11. [laughs] I was a very mature little girl because I was always with Gianni.

KRAVITZ: How many brothers and sisters are there, in total?

VERSACE: There were three of us: me, Gianni, and one brother two years older than Gianni. He’s still alive, of course.

KRAVITZ: From the age of 11 until now, you’ve seen a lot of clothes, owned a lot of clothes, and made a lot of clothes. Is there one piece that you particularly cherish? Maybe something that Gianni gave you . . .

VERSACE: When Gianni started to do metal-mesh for his collection, the first metal-mesh piece he did was for me. It was in the mid-’80s. He did a really long, black metal-mesh dress, which was the Swarovski dress. And he did a black leather blouson to wear on top, which was very radical at that time—a leather blouson over a long evening dress. I loved it. I loved the contrast. It was very rock ’n’ roll. Gianni had that very rock ’n’ roll feeling, which I still love. And I cherish that outfit. I keep all of Gianni’s clothes in the archive, but that particular piece I keep at my house.

KRAVITZ: Sounds very sexy.

VERSACE: Yes, it is.

KRAVITZ: Sexiness has always been something that’s closely associated with Versace, from your brother’s time to yours now. Does the idea of sensuality and sex enter your mind when you’re designing a collection?

VERSACE: I think that’s instinctive, that it comes naturally. I don’t think about making sexy clothes. It’s just my instinct to make them. [laughs] It comes to me when I’m working. I think sex is part of life, like eating and breathing. Obviously you think of sexy in a different way than you did in the mid-’80s or early ’90s. We didn’t strive to make sexy clothes then either, because you didn’t want to say out loud, “This is a sexy outfit.” You wanted to express that in either a more innocent way or a more sophisticated way. But you always want to feel sexy. You want people to look at you and say, “Wow.”
KRAVITZ: Speaking of the ’80s, in the last few years, off and on, there’s been this big return to that decade. My daughter, Zoë, she’s 20 years old, she’s dressing very ’80s—that’s what’s chic right now. I was dressing very ’70s when I started. I see that you’ve largely resisted that trend in your collections and gone away from that. Which wouldn’t have necessarily been a surprise for Versace to embrace.

VERSACE: I knew that trend was coming. I knew exactly when every designer was going to start doing it. And I couldn’t, because I was with Gianni doing the ’80s, in the ’80s. I have so many pieces in the archives that I could put right out on the runway and they’d be perfect. [laughs] In general, I think, yes, we can look back, but not that much. It’s too literal. Like shoulder pads. We belonged to that time. But for me, it doesn’t make sense today. You can play with it for one season, but it’s not going to be revolutionary. I think we should move forward, not back. To define the era we live in is very difficult. How do we define it? We define it by music. That’s different today. We listen to different music than we used to 10 years ago. Fashion is struggling to define itself today. For me, I’m concentrating more on fabrics, on the technological aspect of fabrics.

KRAVITZ: That’s what’s funny about the time we live in now. If you look back on the styles from the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, even the ’90s, they’re distinct. You can put on something from that era and know exactly when it is from. Whereas now we are in and out of every kind of style.

VERSACE: Yes. Absolutely.

KRAVITZ: What do you think this era will be remembered for? If someone were to look back 20 years from now and, say, put on something from the early 2000s, what would that be?

VERSACE: That’s very difficult to say. I think our era will be defined more when it’s over. You couldn’t define the ’80s when the ’80s were happening. We kept changing. We had shoulder pads, then we didn’t. It was revealing, and then it was decoration. It was a lot of things at once. It was defined when it was over. What I personally think has come to define these years up until 2009 is fabrics. Technology and fabrics. It’s just not quite strong enough yet to see it.

KRAVITZ: So what was your inspiration for your Fall ’09 collection?

VERSACE: I was inspired by a combination of metallics, in thread and wool and cashmere—all done with metallic fibers. Also we did strong colors, big trench coats with very feminine dresses underneath. It was a strong, sophisticated woman.

KRAVITZ: Whenever I’m around you, I’m pretty amazed by your schedule. I mean, my life is busy. But I can do an album, do a tour, then take a break. I can go away for a couple of years. Then I can come back and work for a few more years. Then go away again. Whereas, you’re always chasing the next collection. Something ends, and the day it ends, the next thing begins.

VERSACE: Yes.