Absolutely never looked this good before. He’s impeccable. More importantly, he’s notably stylish in a quietly attention-seeking way. He’s really turned heads with his Andrew Cunanan portrayal on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, making it a savvy move to show up at glitzy industry party looking more stylish than most of the other men.
Inside Look: Versace’s Fashion: They weren’t just clothes. They were an expression. The cast and crew explain how the wardrobe helps create a personality. | 2 March 2018
It feels like we’ve been waiting a lifetime for this moment (or, at least since the show was announced at the beginning of last year), but tonight, The Assassination of Gianni Versace finally hits UK screens. The brainchild of Ryan Murphy, the man behind 2016’s The People vs. OJ Simpson, the series chronicles the lead up to – and aftermath of – the iconic Italian designer’s brutal murder at the hands of serial killer Andrew Cunanan on July 15, 1997.
Versace’s ostentatious collections were definitive of the late 80s and early 90s, epitomising the excessive glamour of the era, as he and sister Donatella jetted back and forth between lavish houses in Florida, New York and Italy. The moment he was gunned down, on the steps leading up to his Miami mansion, was a dark day for fashion: marking the end of an era of such levels of opulence within the industry, maximalism gave way to minimalism and the overstated became decidedly less so.
Central to the show, then, were the costumes worn by the cast. Step in American Horror Story and Glee costume designer Lou Eyright, who was tasked with outfitting Donatella (Penelope Cruz), Gianni (Édgar Ramírez), Gianni’s boyfriend Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin), Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss), et al: a daunting task, given the designer’s formidable legacy. “It was hugely intimidating starting work on the show,” Eyright tells us over the phone from LA. “You know, I was such a fan of Gianni’s work and everything Donatella has done over the course of the last two decades, so of course there was some apprehension there. But it was also really exciting. He had such a distinct aesthetic and we had to kind of tread the line between being authentic to Versace and making it our own.”
Eyright needn’t have worried. The show is a flamboyant visual feast for the eyes, as Donatella struts around the set in (fabulous and hugely-covetable) vintage Versace pieces, Gianni sweeps down the halls of his Miami home in luxurious Baroque-printed silk shorts and gowns, and Antonio lounges on the (Medusa-mosaiced) pool in some v barely-there logo pants. Ahead of The Assassination of Gianni Versace’s launch, we caught up with the costume designer to talk about the search for the perfect Versace pieces, the challenges she faced during production, and her favourite looks from the show.
How did you prepare in the time leading up to the show’s production?
Lou Eyright: Well, I started by educating myself on the era and the style of the time beforehand, and I particularly studied Versace’s work in the 80s and 90s, you know the Baroque collection, and the pop art one too. For weeks and weeks I pored over every book I could get my hands on, not just from a fashion point of view, but from art and culture and everything that went with it; Versace’s collection of artworks, his houses, everything. Allison (Leach, co-costume designer) and I spent time at the Fashion Institute of Design in LA as well: they have a huge archive of Versace pieces that we studied prior to shooting. And, of course, the series is also about Andrew Cunanan’s life, so we needed to understand the era thoroughly to be able to dress him properly. There was a lot of trips to the library and late nights scouring the internet involved (laughs).
How was it working between two completely opposing styles simultaneously: the high-octane, OTT glamour of the Versaces and the more grungy, downbeat look Cunanan has?
Lou Eyright: Well, you know, that’s what we do! We set out to tell a story through clothing and whether we have one aesthetic to cover, or 10, or 20, it’s part and parcel on the job. But working on American Crime Story was particularly daunting as we didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked to research. Pressure is good though, you have to live up to the challenge. So it was fun for us to cover both ends of the scale, from Gianni and Donatella and Antonio’s fabulous looks, right through to Andrew’s more downtrodden, understated costumes.
Going back to Versace, were there specific pieces you set out to find when you were creating Donatella and Gianni’s costumes?
Lou Eyright: So some of the garments were scripted very specifically: there’s a point where Gianni was designing all of these Western-inspired pieces – the leather jeans, the leather shirts with the gold collar tips, and the heavy gold Medusa detailing – they were all part of the script, so really we had to find those. We searched the web for weeks to find some of the pieces. Some we managed to get on eBay, and we found a number of styles through private collectors that we got in touch with, including a few in LA, which was quite lucky. We managed to source a few original pieces and then have them replicated, which was great. It was important to Ryan for it to be authentic, and both Penelope and Edgar were both thrilled to be wearing pieces that were actually designed by their real-life counterparts.
The Versace family denounced the show early on in production. Were you a little disappointed that they’d declined to be involved with the show?
Lou Eyright: Of course, I was a little disappointed they’d distanced themselves from it, but I never imagined they’d really be involved to be honest. It’s a story that must still carry a lot of hurt for them, and it was important for everyone involved that it would be handled sensitively. I wanted to make sure I represented the house of Versace as well as I possibly could, though, whether they were involved or not. If they did see it, I wanted them to be happy with the way it looked at least.
Penelope Cruz has been lauded for her performance and capturing the essence of Donatella. Which look epitomises Donatella for you?
Lou Eyright: My favourite was one that didn’t actually make it into the show! It was an authentic Versace shirt with this really bold baroque print from around 1994 and it was cut in the editing suite. But to be honest, I don’t know if I do have a favourite for her, actually. I think what was most important was that Penelope was able to pull off Donatella’s silhouette and stance. And so it was more about finding the right corsets and shapewear to help her transform into Donatella. We went to Agent Provocateur, we went to trashy lingerie stores, we had some made for her. But key to Penelope’s portrayal was the silhouette, definitely.
Did Penelope have a lot of input when it came to costumes? She’s friends with Donatella in real life, so I imagine she must have felt a lot of responsibility on her shoulders…
Lou Eyright: She did have a lot of input, yeah, and she definitely felt a lot of responsibility to portray Donatella in the best possible light. So we worked closely with her to ensure the garments had the highest level of respect and precision that they could have. Very early on, Allison flew out to Madrid to fit Penelope for the first time, and she put on the clothes and just slipped into character, like, she was Donatella! She was very instrumental in making sure everything was just right, which really helped us out.
Did Penelope wear anything other than Versace?
Lou Eyright: For the most part, she wore Versace, like Donatella herself did. But there were a few pieces in there that weren’t: a couple of Alaïa dresses, a Dolce & Gabbana corset, and I think one of the pairs of studded leather pants was vintage. Mainly we tried to stick to Versace, though.
Is there anything you would have done differently? Any pieces that you’d have loved to get your hands on?
Lou Eyright: I wish I’d had a little more prep time to really thoroughly study Gianni and Donatella, and really been able to get to grips with their relationship and the essence of their being. But that’s television, you know, you only get a few weeks to put it all together. I would have loved to have been able to go into all the Haute Couture work, and maybe visit the atelier if I’d been allowed to. But we just didn’t have the time or the resources to do that.
What did you think when you saw the show for the first time?
Lou Eyright: Oh, of course, I picked everything apart (laughs). But overall, on the whole, I think it looks beautiful. There’s always something you wish you’d done differently, or something you think you missed. That said, I’m very proud of the team that worked to create the show, and helped Ryan (Murphy) realise his vision. It’s a beautiful show and I’m so happy we all pulled it off.
The titular character in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story is a mere footnote in a nine-episode saga that zeroes in on his killer, Andrew Cunanan who, in 1997, killed four other men across the country in a vicious spree. But the Ryan Murphy show does manage to rekindle our collective fantasy of the remarkable world of Italian designer Gianni Versace, perhaps the last of the greats in an era before fashion got too fast and too furious.
From the moment he (as played by Édgar Ramírez) steps out of bed in a pink Versace robe and glides across the immaculately tiled floors of Casa Casuarina, his Miami Beach home, it’s evident that this was someone who contributed an immense beauty to the world. It is a seemingly perfect re-introduction of his singular vision, one that reigned supreme in the 1980s and ’90s and has resurfaced like something of a couture ghost.
Aside from the well-deserved hype surrounding the FX series, the label’s current Spring 2018 collection marks the most celebrated it has been in a long time, perhaps since the death of its visionary. The collection, conceptualized as a tribute to her late brother on the 20th anniversary of his death, had Donatella, his successor, scouring the Versace archives for a “best of” compilation of the now-iconic designs that included Baroque, Vogue and Andy Warhol prints. The original supermodels – Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Helena Christensen, Carla Bruni – who were elevated to supermodel status on the same Versace runway three decades before walked the finale in matching Oroton gowns, made with an intricate metal mesh fabric Gianni devised in the early ‘80s. It was a joyful display of vintage fashion that didn’t in any way seem out of place on a 2018 runway, suggesting enough time may have finally passed for the brand to lose its clichéd nostalgia, and for younger Millennials and Generation Z to be introduced to Gianni’s work.
The timing is right, with Migos and Bruno Mars both name-checking the brand in their hit songs “Versace” and “Versace on the Floor,” respectively, and, of course, with Murphy bringing his name to primetime television. The star alignment for the brand could be considered coincidental, or it may mean that we’ve arrived at the precise point in the cyclical nature of fashion when the name Versace sounds like a symbol of power once again. Gucci received similar treatment last year, following in the footsteps of Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton.
This tribute to its founder comes at a potential crossroads for the house. It has long been rumoured by fashion trade journals, including Women’s Wear Daily and Business of Fashion, that Donatella has been eager to take the company public. In fact, we learn in The Assassination of Gianni Versace that her late brother had planned on doing so mere days before his death. We also learn that Donatella (played by Penelope Cruz) had clashing opinions with her brother on the artistic direction of the brand following his illness (the family has long claimed it was ear cancer, while the series makes a bold claim that he had been diagnosed with HIV, as alleged by author Maureen Orth in the series’ source material). Although she’s allegedly given her blessing to Cruz, Donatella has called the series a “work of fiction.”
The series depicts his final show as a true-to-life dueling ground for the siblings: Gianni’s designs were bright and joyful, while Donatella seemed to have fallen victim to heroin chic. “I want my models to look like they enjoy life,” says Ramirez’s Gianni. Donatella, on the other hand, explains that she wants the kind of attention that Alexander McQueen and John Galliano were getting at the time for their groundbreaking, often shocking work. She never got it.
Her first solo collection following his death was lacking Gianni’s signature joie de vivre, and received lukewarm reviews, as have most Versace collections of the past two decades. There were memorable moments, of course (the moment being the plunging tropical number Jennifer Lopez wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards), but overall, the brand has not enjoyed the kind of high praise or sales it did in Gianni’s glory days.
In 1996, just before his death, Versace sales topped $1 billion. A decade later, they were less than half that, suggesting the brand was on the path of gradual decline. But as of 2015, retail sales have been rapidly rising, partly thanks to a new retail strategy focusing on a greater number of brick and mortar stores, and a $290-million cash booster from private equity firm Blackstone Group that now controls a 20 per cent stake in the company. And if she does indeed go public, it may be a sign that Donatella is finally ready to let go of the heavy burden of being Gianni’s successor.
In fact, the trades have also reported that Donatella has been on a search for her own replacement, a fresh eye that can capture the vibrancy of the Gianni era in today’s zeitgeist. Former Givenchy creative director, and friend of Donatella’s, Riccardo Tisci is reportedly at the top of the list, according to British Vogue. Although, there have also been rumours swirling about the possible involvement of Off White’s Virgil Abloh or outgoing Louis Vuitton menswear designer Kim Jones. Whoever it is, they have their work cut out for them — and a looming legacy to live up to. As a tight family-run business, Versace is one of the last holdouts in an industry that is almost completely run by luxury conglomerates such as LVMH and the Gucci Group. And capitulating could mean a complete brand restructuring.
Although Versace has undeniable worldwide brand recognition, it lacks a signature product range that can act as consistent cash flow for luxury brands. For many fashion houses, handbags and cosmetics are bread and butter. In an era of ‘it’ bags, Versace has given us none, and, aside from a few fragrances, there are no existing beauty products. But maybe the real question is if anyone wants them. Many were ready to write off Gucci as a predictably safe Italian brand, coasting on its former glory. With creative director Alessandro Michele and his signature attitude at the helm, Gucci has finally come out of the shadow of its Tom Ford era. But Versace has a secret weapon — Gianni — and is finally ready to use it.
If the intrigue surrounding The Assassination of Gianni Versace is any indication, we are not yet done with the late visionary. Aside from a healthy dose of nostalgia, the early ‘90s Versace aesthetic fits perfectly in the current taste for remixed classics and logo-heavy luxury goods. As numbers and trends have proven, Versace’s spring collection is bound to fly off the racks suggesting, for the first time in a long time, it may prove to be more than its name.
One of the biggest joys of watching a Ryan Murphy series—at least, the ones based on real life—is seeing exactly how it physically transforms stars into the characters they play. On The People vs. O.J. Simpson, impeccably dowdy wigs morphed Sarah Paulson into Marcia Clark. On Feud, perfectly defined brows and a careful swipe of eyeliner turned Jessica Lange into a dead ringer for Joan Crawford. And on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Penelope Cruz has pulled off one of the most drastic transformations yet, taking on the role of her friend Donatella Versace.
How much hair and make-up did that take—and what, exactly, is going on with her plump upper lip? We spoke with the show’s costume designers and hair and make-up team to find out.
THE CLOTHES
The costume team for Versace consistently worked at breakneck speed due to production constraints, yet their work perfectly captures the Versace era—both the world of high fashion and the grungier elements of the 90s, through the parallel story of Versace murderer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss). This was no small feat, considering the team had no help from the Versace family.
When it came to capturing Donatella’s iconic look, costume designers Lou Eyrichand Allison Leach started with the basics—specifically, that tiny waist.
“I feel that a big part of the silhouette for Donatella was the corset, to get that really structured waist,” Eyrich said. “That tiny-waist look was a big part of it, and then the bodycon… And Penelope has a rocking figure as well, so as far as getting that same silhouette, that was easy. And then once Ana and Massimo added the wig and the makeup, Penelope would just magically transform.”
One of the signature Versace looks the two were most excited—and nervous—to recreate was that notorious bondage dress, which Donatella famously wore to the Met Gala in 1996. Leach said recreating that memorable look was both “very exciting and harrowing.”
“It is such an iconic dress, and it it was scripted that it definitely needed to be that dress to tell the story of her coming into her of her own stardom,” Leach continued, describing a scene the series depicts in episode 7. “Just from a construction standpoint and materials, it was such beautiful leather dress that had to fit perfectly—and all these different angles that the neck and the you know skirt had to swath just, just right.” That dress, Leach said, was one of the most challenging items on the show’s list—but also the most rewarding.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Donatella on Versace is how her appearance changes after her brother’s death. Each department made its own contribution to that effort. For costumes, it meant keeping things somber. Though Leach and her team kept the character’s clothes fitted–and of course designer—they also avoided low-cut necklines, and kept Cruz a little more covered up in scenes set after the murder. “I would think that she would feel, you know, maybe safer in those layers,” Leach explained. “And, you know, there’s always elements of jewelry and stuff, but sometimes we downplayed it a little bit to make it more appropriate for the tone of the scene.”
THE FACE
Perhaps the biggest challenge in turning Cruz into Donatella was morphing her face—an effort spearheaded by Cruz’s make-up artist, Ana Lozano.
Lozano said thatshe and Cruz did a lot of their make-up tests back in Spain, before they even got on the plane to film. Together, they sifted through photos of Donatella’s looks, calibrating smokey eyes and contouring to get just the right balance. And if you’ve been wondering what, exactly, is making Cruz’s upper lip so plump on the series, the answer is more obvious than you’d think: it’s an instrument literally called “Plumper.”
“It’s a kind of dental prosthetic to make her lips bigger,” Lozano said. The effect also gives Cruz a slightly different-looking face. “Penelope has enough lips in reality,” Lozano clarified, but in real life, they are a different shape than those of the woman she plays. Lozano also used contouring to finish the look and further define Cruz’s lips—as well as to lightly massage the rest of her features into a more Donatella-like illusion.
Lozano tried using prosthetics for Cruz’s eyebrows, but in the end, it was simpler and more natural-looking to simply bleach them and give them a thinner shape. Then came the eyes—those smoky, smoky eyes. As Lozano notes, smokey eyes have changed over time; in the 90s, they had a rounder look, rather than the more cat-like approach that’s become popular now.
Like the costume team, Lozano worked to make sure Cruz’s “Donatella” physically changed after her brother’s death. She made her skin a little paler, and made her eye make-up just slightly less perfect—“just to make the impression that she was crying and she was not sleeping.” (Lozano adds that she particularly likes Cruz in slightly destroyed make-up, as it “gives more importance to the look.”) For the scenes set after Gianni’s death, Lozano also contoured Cruz a little more aggressively, making her features just a little sunken.
Cruz, Lozano said, was constantly practicing, working to get her portrayal just right; sometimes, Lozano even recorded the actress so she could review her facial expressions, or the way she gestured. “At the end,” Lozano said, “it’s like you press a button; it’s like, Wow. She is Donatella.”
THAT HAIR
Like Lozano, Cruz’s hair stylist Massimo Gattabrussi started working with Cruz in Madrid before making the final wigs for the series. When Cruz called Gattabrussi about the project, the stylist recalls he “remained silent for a few seconds.” Once his excitement for the challenge took over, he said, “I understood that it would be brilliant.” He used a photo book Donatella produced in 2016—Versace—to become more acquainted with the icon’s past.
Gattabrussi and Cruz tested color, hair quality, and style with about nine prototypes to ensure they got the right balance of characteristics. The stylist has long collaborated with the historical Italian studio Rocchetti-Rome, which allows him to participate in the construction and finalization of the wigs—which, he said, “is very important for me because of my close knowledge of Penelope and its physical and gestural characteristics.” In the end, they narrowed down their choice to three pieces, all of which made it on the series—two with bangs, one golden and the other platinum, and the third without bangs, with longer hair to give the illusion of extensions. As Gattabrussi put it, he’s “always looking in a line between real and fiction.”
How did Gattabrussi help the show’s Donatella express her grief after losing her brother? That’s what the third, bangs-less wig was for. 1997, he said, “was a sad year to represent.” In addition to tailoring the wig to fit the time’s fashion trends—longer, heavier hair without bangs—Gattabrussi said he “paid attention to detail like having increased the regrowth of dark hair to the root.” That, he said, helped the wig offer a more realistic image, and slightly lowered “the flash of platinum” that’s always been associated with Donatella’s powerful and iconic image.
Penelope Cruz looks stunning on the red carpet at the 2018 Goya Cinema Awards held on Saturday (February 3) at the Marriott Auditorium in Madrid, Spain.
The 43-year-old Oscar-winning actress was joined at the event by her husband Javier Bardem.
This is the fourth year in a row that Penelope has attended the event in her home country. See her red carpet looks from 2015, 2016, and 2017!
Penelope wore Versace to the event the past two years, and now she’s playing Donatella Versace on American Crime Story. She’s once again wearing one of the brand’s designs.
It seems the Versace family’s distaste for the series has not affected their relationship with Penelope!
FYI: Penelope is wearing an Atelier Versace dress.
Costume designer Lou Eyrich‘s handiwork dominates the opening of Ryan Murphy’s new series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (Wednesdays on FX) when the titular fashion designer begins his last day on earth swaddled in the lap of luxury. Versace (Edgar Ramirez), in silk pajamas, dresses for breakfast by slipping on a pink robe and, of course, Versace-branded slippers. Without a word of dialogue, Eyrich and creator-producer-director-writer Ryan Murphy establish Versace’s luxurious life in Miami shortly before he’s murdered by Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss). “Making the robe pink was Ryan’s idea because he wanted to show the color and vibrancy of Miami,” she says. “The pajamas and robe were silk because we wanted something opulent that would flow through the hallways as Versace walked down the steps to the pool.”
Ryan Murphy’s name comes up a lot when Eyrich discusses The Assassinationin particular and her career in general. A three-time Emmy winner for her contributions to Murphy’s American Horror Story franchise, Eyrich started collaborating with the TV auteur in 1999, employed as assistant costume designer on his first series Popular. She says, “In our first production meeting, Ryan went through the script rattling off everything he wanted. ‘He has to wear a blue fur coat, he’s got to have that.’ He was so specific about every prop, the costumes, the locations. I remember leaning over to the costume designer and whispering ‘I don’t know who this guy is but he’s going to be big time.‘”
In previous Murphy-created shows, Eyrich channeled 1960s Hollywood (Feud: Bette and Joan) and Pilgrim garb circa 1590 (AHS: Roanoke). By comparison The Assassination of Gianni Versace, set in 1997, offered a fairly straight forward curatorial challenge. She says, “We spent days on end ordering online as much Versace as we could get our hands on. There’s a lot of Versace collectors out there, so we managed to put a lot of authentic pieces into the show. Edgar was really eager to assimilate Versace’s posture and movement so it all came together quite nicely.”
Penelope Cruz plays the designer’s strong-willed sister Donatella. The Spanish actress is friends with Ms. Versace and had her own ideas about dressing “Donatella,” beginning with her grand entrance in black leather pants and jacket. “A lot of the story takes place after Gianni gets killed so she there’s a lot of black,” Eyrich says. “But even though Donatella’s grieving, we wanted to show her strong side, that she’s a powerful business woman who’s being asked to take over the family business.”
Cruz as Donatella cuts a dramatic figure onscreen, inspired by imagery Eyrich studied during her pre-production research. She says “Donatella was always very well put together – – jewelry, shoes, purses, everything was very couture. And a big part of Donatella’s look had to do with corseted waists. It was also important also to show leg, because she has great legs. We wanted to emulate that silhouette without blatantly copying the clothes.”
In contrast to “Donatella”‘s sleek ensembles, Cunanan’ grubby clothes reflect his homeless status by the time the serial killer arrived in Miami. “He was basically living out of his backpack,” says Eyrich, who scoured thrift stores for well-worn tee shirts from the period. During flashback to 1990, Criss as Cunanan favors suits that hang loosely on his wire frame. “Today, everybody goes with the tailored suit and the narrow leg but suits in the eighties and nineties were a bit over-sized in the shoulders and baggy in the leg. So when you look back at the nineties, the suits do look too big.”
On a break from costume-designing Murpy’s upcoming ’80s-era show Pose, Eyrich notes that before teaming up with the television mogul, she’d work with another detail-obsessed perfectionist: Prince. A Minnesota native, Eyrich spent two years on the road serving as costumer to the musical genius/fashion plate. “I ironed the clothes and dressed Prince backstage,” Eyrich says. “He was always very precise: ‘I want that leopard top with those black pants and this shoe. Put two stripes there. Add those buttons over here.’ I hadn’t really thought of it before but Prince knew everything that was going on around him and so does Ryan Murphy. No matter how many balls they have up in the air, with both of them, it’s like eyes in the back of the head.”
Making clothes for a show about late designer Gianni Versace without the help of Versace isn’t easy. The Assassination of Gianni Versace co-costume designers Allison Leach and Lou Eyrich had nearly five weeks to assemble a wardrobe of vintage Versace pieces, sourced from Ebay stores and Etsy sellers, not to mention high-end consignment shops. They also made industry contacts through A Current Affair, a Los Angeles showcase with more than 150 vintage retailers. What they couldn’t find, they recreated, including every single look from Versace’s famous 1997 Haute Couture show in Paris, which would ultimately serve as the designer’s final turn on the runway.
The aforementioned show takes place in the second episode, in which a Naomi Campbell lookalike closes out the presentation as a “Versace bride.” In order to recreate all 17 of the shimmery mesh gowns with rhinestone embellishments, Leach and her team painstakingly researched the different types of crystal mesh, metal mesh, and silk jersey fabrics that comprised the real-life designs. To accommodate a TV schedule with a swift turnaround, Leach says they devoted one day per dress for the show.
“Our tailor, Joanne Mills, hadn’t worked with those before so assembling crystal mesh and metal mesh dresses was almost like jewelry assembly,” Leach tells CR. “There was some faux leather and beadwork and the team did a lot of the intricate rhine-stoning work on the signature crosses.”
In our first glimpse of the late designer, played by Édgar Ramírez, Versace dons a flowing silk robe that seems to flit and flutter behind him as he maneuvers around his decadent Miami Beach mansion on the morning he is murdered by Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss). Producer Ryan Murphy imparted his own vision for the scene and specifically asked the costume department to create a pink robe.
“Ryan had this pink robe in his mind’s eye because he specifically asked for a beautiful pink robe for the opening sequence,” Leach says. “We built that from scratch from silk and it was all machine-quilted with the Greek key embroidery on the lapels. For the outfit that Versace was shot in, we recreated that from the research but we added a tone-on-tone black Medusa embroidery on the center front of the t-shirt because Ryan wanted to have as much Medusa present as possible.”
Sifting through Versace’s collections, overflowing with bright pop art dresses and Grecian details, it’s clear why the designer made such a huge mark on fashion during the 1990s. The Medusa logo itself, most notably associated with the brand, is ever-present in the show, from adorning the sides of Versace’s shoes to the gates of the mansion of which Versace is gunned down in front. “It was so important to Gianni and it came from his childhood in Calabria—this Medusa head that he incorporated into his very first store and it’s the iconography of the brand—so we tried to get the Medusa in as much as we could,” Leach says.
Many of the costumes themselves were a combination of real and recreated Versace pieces. The printed Barocco shirts that Ramírez wore, for instance, were all Versace originals. As for costuming Penelope Cruz, who plays Gianni’s sister Donatella, accuracy was most important. Although the Versace family has released statements calling the series a “work of fiction,” Cruz reportedly obtained permission from Donatella herself for the on-screen portrayal.
Donatella’s 1996 Met Gala attire, the black-and-gold studded dress from Versace’s Bondage Collection, was Leach’s favorite costume to design. “It’s such an iconic dress to get to explore and find how it was made, from the materials, the lamb, the drapery of the skirt, and then the intricate buckle work on the bodice,” she says. “We had to recreate the hardware as well with custom-made buckles. Joann Mills built with such talent and skill and I think when you see the picture side-by-side with Penelope and Donatella, it’s a pretty magical transformation.”
For a hot pink evening gown that Donatella wore (which was eventually cut from the series), Leach used real Versace safety pins and their original placement on the dress. The wardrobe for Donatella also included Versace belts and boots, resplendent with intricate Western hardware and safety pin details, but the designer’s affinity for wearing body-conscious Azzedine Alaïa garments was also taken into account.
“Penelope was aware that Donatella wore Versace but also Alaïa so we were always keen to find those pieces and we would all be so excited when we found something that was so right on the money, that was so Donatella,” Leach says. “She wears a couple of different Alaïa leather jackets and some Alaïa boots as well.”
From the moment Donatella steps foot off of the plane from Europe to Miami, after just hearing the tragic news that her brother had been murdered, the grief-stricken sister in mourning wears only all-black outfits. The only moments in which we’re able to peer back at the lively and daring Donatella, the one who inspired so many of Versace’s colorful creations, is through flashbacks.
“It’s hard because our story is so much about the moments after the death, so we couldn’t do gold or some of the brighter colors that Donatella wore,” Leach says. “In some of the flashbacks to times before his death, we were able to use bolder colors and more stud-work and opulent choices but after the death, we had to keep it respectful and somber because of the character’s emotional journey.”
As the viewer follows along with Cunanan’s cross-country murder spree and his web of telling tall tales, charting all the way back to his childhood, it was imperative to Leach and her team that the time period and location informed the costuming. Major themes including the ongoing struggle for LGBT rights and the AIDS epidemic, which encapsulated the late ‘80s and ’90s, served as the undercurrent for the series. Miami Beach and Versace’s mansion functioned as characters in their own right, and everyone from the leads to the extras were outfitted in bright colors and whites to stay true to the era.
“We definitely wanted to get that hot Miami color palette,” Leach says. “We paid special attention to the fit of the clothes because the ’90s were worn so oversized and we made sure the t-shirts and dress shirts were off-the-shoulder and had to research the correct width of the tie, the drop of the lapel, and the fit of the pants. A lot them were higher waisted and looser in the leg and down to the every last background person, we really tried to achieve the period feel.”
In poring over numerous Versace collections and sourcing original pieces for the show, Leach developed a greater appreciation for the late designer and what a loss his death meant to the fashion world and beyond. Cementing himself as a cultural icon, Versace ushered in a new age in fashion in which opulence and maximalism were celebrated and was the first designer to tap into the publicity machine by filling his front rows with celebrities. Leach says that through his otherworldly creations, and his incorporation of American, Italian, Grecian, and Western details, Versace was able to reach international prominence and inspire scores of young designers.
“Going into this project, I liked Versace and now I have even more respect for what he meant to fashion and that word audacity comes to mind,” Leach says. “You can see why it appeals to people across the globe because of its audaciousness and because everybody knows that’s Versace. It’s not like other brands where you might not guess what it is—it’s just elegant. There’s something to be said for something that’s so recognizably Versace that I think appeals to a certain wearer.”
American Crime Story S02E02 (Manhunt) – the Atelier Versace fall 1997 collection – with the cross as recurring motif – was recreated with an incredible attention to details. This was the last collection designed by Gianni Versace
There was a lot of fashion to soak up in episode two of The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, which aired Wednesday night on FX. In addition to seeing Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) in a custom-made, teeny-tiny hot-pink Speedo, the costume department re-created eight nearly identical looks from Gianni Versace’s final runway show before his death, since Versace wouldn’t lend any vintage pieces for the filming.
Below, costume designer Lou Eyrich breaks down all the standout scenes.
THAT Hot-Pink Speedo
The world first got a glimpse of Andrew Cunanan’s hot-pink Speedo bathing suit when actor Darren Criss shared a racy photo of it it on his personal Instagram account. But here it is in action. “We custom-made those,” said Eyrich. “Ryan [Murphy] wanted hot-pink Speedos. He’s very specific.”
Versace’s Last Runway Show
The costume department’s team of tailors re-created eight looks from Atelier Versace’s fall 1997 show, which was Gianni’s last. In the episode, Gianni and Donatella get in an argument about casting models. Donatella, who is worried about the brand keeping up with names like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, wants stick-thin girls in all-black. Meanwhile, Gianni wants to continue using his favorite supermodels like Naomi Campbell, dressing them in his now-signature color and shine.
“I want my models to look like they enjoy life,” says Gianni. “Like they eat, at least! Like they laugh; like they dance; like they make love. What do those girls enjoy?”
“Front covers?” Donatella retorts.
“The script specified a distinction,” explained Eyrich, so they showed five looks of Donatella’s liking, and three of Gianni’s. Naomi Campbell closed the show as a shimmering bride in a scandalously short silver dress.
This woman is “not a virgin bride” but a “Versace bride,” says Gianni. “She will be a woman who’s loved many men before. A woman who’s finally found her equal — a match for her passions. She won’t be dainty or timid; she will be proud and strong.”
In the end, Times critic Amy M. Spindler gave the collection a positive review.
In Da Club
Gianni walks into Twist, a popular Miami club wearing an incredible, see-through lace shirt. “Less is more,” said Eyrich of the ’90s Miami nightlife look. “It was a lot of tank tops. A lot of shirtless men. Very sweaty, but also Ryan really wanted to show those Miami colors — that sizzle. It’s hot, hot heat. So there were a lot of short shorts and white jeans and flip-flops. Just very carefree, free-spirited lightness. A lot of skin and hot bodies.”
Cunanan was also at a Miami nightclub that night. When his dance partner asks what he does for a living, he replies, “I’m a serial killer,” with a smile.
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