The empire of Gianni Versace in Malaga: from nouveau riche baroque to supermodel boom

This is not the Ocean Drive mansion where Gianni Versace lived (and died), but the association between the two places is not so far-fetched. Just like that mansion, this one is close to the sea, has large windows that open onto an interior garden and an impressive staircase.

This is not Miami Beach, it is the Centro Cultural Fundación Unicaja, a former bishop’s palace in Malaga, but right now it is probably the place in the world with the most works by the fashion genius. Gianni Versace Retrospective exhibits 120 looks and some 400 original pieces - accessories, unpublished photographs, fabrics, drawings, prototypes - the entire creative empire of the Italian designer, a fashion revolutionary in the 90s who still transcends generations today.

“Fashion reached museums a long time ago, nobody doubts any more that designers are artists,” said José María Luna, who was making his debut as director of cultural activities at the Unicaja Foundation at this event.

The exhibition, which is the first of its kind in Spain and curated by Karl Von der Ahé and Saskia Lubnow, does not follow a chronological order, but a sensorial one. Each space transports us to an inspiration of the artist: from baroque to minimalism, passing through punk, bondage and supermodels. From the gold shirts with ornate prints worn by the nouveau riche of the 90s - countless rappers among them - to the simple chic style that Lady Di was fond of, the mesh vest Prince wore to a performance, Elton John’s check suit, Kate Moss’s casual dress or the daring DIY aesthetic with huge safety pins on show in which Liz Hurley outshone Hugh Grant at the premiere of Four Weddings and a Funeral.

But first, the exhibition places him in context. His life line runs along the wall of the first room, with the main milestones of his career, while his voice plays in the background in a video by Richard Avedon. His perfume, his collaboration with artists such as Julian Schnabel, original invitations to his fashion shows and other objects lead to the recreation of his studio, with scraps of fabric, buttons and all kinds of accessories on the tables.

Crossing the central courtyard of the cultural centre, we enter the Miami Beach mansion, with a bed dressed in a Versace bedspread in front of the large window overlooking the courtyard, and a selection of designs inspired by the tropical beach atmosphere of the coast. Shells, starfish, palm trees and flowers cover jackets, shirts, lycra trousers, shirts knotted at the chest and casual shorts with the obvious Versace stamp.

Upstairs, his creative universe takes shape. With Greek music playing in the background, we are reminded that Versace was born in Reggio di Calabria, an Italian region that belonged to Magna Graecia, where he grew up in a matriarchy surrounded by vestiges of Greco-Latin culture.

Hence those early designs, in the 1980s, reminiscent of togas and the dresses that covered the goddesses. But there he reinterpreted those influences, incorporating for the first time an essential element of his fashion: metal mesh, with a fluid appearance and transparencies, which he created with a fabric called Oroton. Since then, they have never been absent from his successive collections.

The ‘baroque’ side of his style is exhibited here in a room that is also baroque, with mirrors at the sides and fabrics with iconic Versace prints. It was the early 1990s and the nouveau riche in the USA and Europe made this aesthetic their own: they did not want to dress like the traditional, more classical wealthy, and sought to differentiate themselves with excessive and extravagant looks dominated by gold, fabrics with chains, flowers and crowns. Pure Versace.

Curiously, two rooms later, we discover the last great revolution of Versace with the motto “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”; a sophisticated line of solid colours and simple patterns that dazzled Princess Diana of Wales after her divorce, when she was free to wear something more than British fashion.

That was near the end of the iconic era of the supermodels: Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington... A Gianni Versace fashion show from the 1991-92 autumn/winter collection marked the ‘birth’ of a generation. They were all there, stomping down the catwalk to the beat of George Michael’s Freedom, which also provides the musical backdrop to this room. And the dozen designs from that time are accompanied by unpublished photos taken by Paolo Castaldi from backstage. “He had several photographers. We would take a thousand photos and he would only choose three or four,” he said.

Versace always had a very special bond with music and art. He was a great friend of Elton John, whom he dressed on more than one occasion, and of Prince, whom he covered with his mesh shirt, as a contemporary shield, when he went out with the word ‘slave’ painted on his face in protest at conflicts with his record company. From the art world, he was friends with Warhol, from whom he drew inspiration for a dress with the iconic face of Marilyn Monroe. Both are, as the curators recalled, the most copied and faked artists in history, but that didn’t bother them. “It was the best marketing,” they said.

The exhibition, which features loans from eleven international lenders, will be open to visitors until 30 June at the Centro Cultural Fundación Unicaja de Málaga (Plaza del Obispo, 6) Monday to Saturday 10am to 2pm amd 4pm to 7pm, Sundays and bank holidays from 10am-2pm. The entrance fee is a charitable donation of 3 euros, with all proceeds going entirely to the Fundación Quiero Trabajo and the Asociación Dosta Con Alma Gitana.

There will also be free guided tours for groups of up to 25 people, from Monday to Friday 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 4.30pm and 5.30pm; Saturdays at 11am, 12am, 4.30pm and 5.30pm, and Sundays at 11am and 12pm. Two tours in English will be organised on Fridays at 5pm and Saturdays at 12.30pm. Visits can be booked by email: mediacionculturalmalaga@fundacionunicaja.com or by telephone: 952 62 48 62.