All For Fame— the devastating murder of Gianni Versace
Versace is one of the biggest fashion houses in the world. With bold and seductive designs, the clothes have been worn by royals and celebrities alike. The fashion house was the first to link fashion to the music world, with many culturally significant pieces that continue to set the standard. A black gown with gold safety pins put actress and model Elizabeth Hurley on the map and a silk chiffon green dress worn by Jennifer Lopez to the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000 resulted in the creation of Google Images
Versace was trail-blazing and iconic, but in the 1997, the fashion world was in mourning.
GIANNI VERSACE
Born in Reggio Calabria on the 2nd of December 1946, Giovanni Maria “Gianni” Versace (pronounced Ver-sah-chey) grew up with an older brother, Santo and a younger sister, Donatella, along with their father and dressmaker mother.
Versace started working as an apprentice at his mother’s sewing business and became interested in architecture but moved to Milan at the age of 26 to work in fashion design.
In 1973, he became the designer for ‘Byblos’, a youthful line for the Italian ready-to-wear manufacturer, Genny. In 1977, he designed for ‘Complice’, another more experimental line for Genny. A few years later, encouraged by his success, Versace presented his first signature collection for women at the Palazzo della Permanente Art Museum in Milan. His first fashion show followed in September of the same year and his first boutique opened in Milan in 1978.
“I DON’T BELIEVE IN GOOD TASTE”
In 1978, with the support of his family, Versace built his company. His sister, Donatella became Vice President and his brother Santo, became the President of the Company. Donatella’s purview extended to creative oversight and she was a key consultant to Versace, who ultimately hired her husband, Paul Beck as the director of menswear.
After opening his boutique in Milan, Versace became a sensation in the fashion world. His designs employed vivid colours, bold prints and sexy cuts, which was a change from the muted tones and simplicity that had taken over the fashion scene. His aesthetic was described as “combining luxurious classicism with overt sexuality” and it received much praise and criticism. Versace has been quoted as saying, “I don’t believe in good taste”, which was reflected in the “brazen defiance of the rules of fashion”. A saying that referenced Versace’s rivalry with acclaimed Italian designer Giorgio Armani was: “Armani dressed the wife, Versace dressed the mistress.”
Aspects of the Ancient Greeks dominated the landscape where Versace grew up and was a huge inspiration to him and his designs. He infused motifs inspired by historical fashion and art movements, especially Graeco-Roman art. The company’s logo itself is the Medusa head and there are recurring motifs like the Greek key, across Versace’s designs.
After introducing homeware and textiles under the Versace brand, the firm was expanded further in 1989 by introducing Atelier Versace — the brand’s haute couture line. Versace was the first designer to introduce celebrities in his marketing campaigns and invited them to sit in front row at his shows. He is also credited with introducing the supermodel vogue of the 1990s, by discovering and featuring major supermodels such as Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista in his fashion shows and advertising campaigns.
Throughout his career, Versace was a prolific costume designer for not only for stage productions but performing artists. He designed costumes for ballets, operas and even the stage costumes for Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney for their 1983 ‘Say Say Say’ music video and the costumes for Elton John’s 1992 world tour.
In 1982, Versace started a relationship with Italian model, Antonio D’Amico, who would be his partner for fifteen years and the two moved to the famous Casa Casuarina, also known as the Versace Mansion in Miami, Florida, in 1992. Versace also was devoted to his nieces and nephews: Santo’s two children, Francesca and Antonio, and Donatella’s two children, Allegra and Daniel.
THE BOY FROM NATIONAL CITY
Andrew Phillip Cunanan was born in National City, California, the youngest of four children to a Filipino-American father and an Italian-American mother. His father was serving in the US Navy at the time of his birth. In 1981, Cunanan's father enrolled him in an independent day school in an affluent neighbourhood of San Diego, where he met his life-long best friend, Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Cote. At school, he was known to be talkative and bright, with an IQ of 147.
As a teenager, Cunanan had developed a reputation for being a prolific liar, giving to telling tall tales about his family and personal life. Cunanan identified as gay in high school and began having liaisons with wealthy, older men. He graduated high school in 1987 and enrolled at the University of California, San Diego, where he majored in American history.
In 1988, after his father had deserted the family and moved back to the Philippines to evade embezzlement charges, Cunanan began frequenting local gay clubs and restaurants and his mother, who was deeply religious, learnt about his sexual orientation. After an argument, Cunanan threw his mother against a wall, dislocating her shoulder. In 1989, he dropped out of university and settled in the Castro District of San Francisco, a centre of gay culture.
In San Francisco, Cunanan continued befriending wealthy, older men. He frequented the Hillcrest and La Jolla neighbourhoods of San Diego as well as in Scottsdale, Arizona where he “apparently lived off the largesse of one wealthy patron or another.” He is also believed to have been dealing drugs, including prescription opioids, cocaine and marijuana.
“HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT”
Cunanan took his first victim’s life on the 27th of April 1997. He murdered his close friend, 28-year-old Jeffrey Trail after an argument at Trail’s apartment. Cunanan stole his gun and took it to the house of his second victim, David Madson where he called Trail to come and get the gun. Cunanan then proceeded to beat Trail to death with a hammer in front of Madson. On the 29th of April, a concerned employee of Madson’s, visited his apartment to check on him and found his body of Trail rolled up on a rug and placed behind the sofa.
Madson and Cunanan were believed to have stayed at the apartment for at least two days after Trail’s murder as one witness reported seeing both men on the 28th of April on the elevator and another witness so both men walking Madson’s dog on the 29th. Initially, police believed Madson was responsible for the murder of Trail but his family insisted that he was being held hostage by Cunanan. On May 2nd, Cunanan and Madson were seen north of Minneapolis, driving in Madson’s jeep and eating lunch together in a bar. The following morning, Madson’s body was found on the east shore of Rush Lake near Rush City, Minnesota with gunshot wounds to the head and back, with Trail’s .40-calibre Taurus PT100 semi-automatic pistol.
On May 4th, Cunanan drove to Chicago, Illinois and killed 72-year-old Lee Miglin, a prominent real estate developer. Cunanan bound Miglin’s hands and feet and wrapped his head with duct tape before stabbing him more than twenty times with a screwdriver and slitting his throat with a hacksaw. While Miglin’s family believe the killing was random, FBI investigators argue it is unlikely that Cunanan would’ve bound and tortured Miglin without some motive. Miglin’s 1994 Lexus LS sedan was missing from its garage and Madson’s red Jeep was parked on a street near Miglin’s house. Miglin’s car was equipped with a car phone, which according to cellular records, was activated on May 4th in Union County, Pennsylvania. Authorities began monitoring this phone’s activity and found it was also activated on May 8th in Philadelphia and on May 9th near Penns Grove and Carneys Point Township in New Jersey.
On May 9th, in Pennsville Township, New Jersey, at Finn’s Point National Cemetery, Cunanan shot and killed 45-year-old cemetery caretaker William Reese. Later that day, when Reese did not return home for dinner, his wife went to check on him and found the caretaker’s office door slightly ajar and the radio playing inside. She called the police who found Reese shot in the head by the same pistol used in the Madson murder. Unlike Cunanan's other victims whom he killed for seemingly personal reasons, the murder of Reese was to simply steal his 1995 red Chevrolet pickup truck. This was the truck that Cunanan used to drive to Florida.
On May 12th, Cunanan began staying at the Normandy Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. On June 12th, he was listed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. As the manhunt unsuccessfully focused on Reese’s stolen pickup truck that Cunanan was using, he remained hidden “in plain sight” for at least two months. Cunanan used his own name to pawn a stolen item on July 7th, knowing that police routinely checked pawn shop records. Cunanan checked out of the hotel he was staying at, without paying for the final night on July 14th.
On the morning of 15th July 1997, Versace took a walk on Ocean Drive in Miami to retrieve his morning magazines. Upon returning to his home, Versace climbed the steps of his home when Cunanan, dressed in a grey t-shirt, black shorts and a white hat carrying a backpack shot him in the head at point-blank range with the Taurus pistol. Versace was pronounced dead at Jackson Memorial Hospital at 9:21 am. He was 50 years old at the time.
Police found Reese’s stolen vehicle in a nearby parking garage and it contained Cuanan’s clothes and clippings of newspaper reports of the killings.
Eight days after the murder of Versace, Cunanan committed suicide on a luxury houseboat in Miami Beach, Florida, with a gunshot wound to the head.
“DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR”
Cunanan was obsessed with the designer and often ‘bragged’ about his close relationship with Versace, although this was symptomatic of Cunanan's “delusions of grandeur” as he often falsely claimed to have met celebrities. However, FBI agents believe that Cunanan and Versace had met previously in San Francisco, although the circumstances of the meetings remain a mystery. Maureen Orth (author and journalist who heavily researched Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace) claims that the two men had met briefly at a San Francisco nightclub in 1990, according to several eyewitness claims and that they would’ve met on several occasions because both were involved in sex-for-hire circles in Miami and San Francisco.
The Versace family vehemently deny that Versace and Cunanan had ever met with police stating that they do not know why Versace was targeted. Cunanan's motives for the murder will likely remain unknown. At the time of the murders, there was extensive reporting that Cunanan discovered he was HIV-positive, although an autopsy revealed he was HIV-negative.
Although the houseboat was searched after Cunanan's death, he left no suicide note and few personal belongings.
Giovanni Maria “Gianni” Versace was cremated and his ashes were returned to his family estate near Cernobbio and buried in the family vault at Moltrasio Cemetery near Lake Como. The funeral liturgy was held at Milan Cathedral and was attended by over 2,000 people, including Carolyne Bassette-Kennedy, Naomi Campbell, Elton John and Diana, Princess of Wales.
In September 1997, the estate of Versace announced that Versace’s brother, Santo would serve as the new CEO of Gianni Versace S.p.A and Versace’s sister, Donatella, would become a new head of design.
In his will, Versace left 50% of his fashion empire to his niece, Allegra which she claimed in 2004, when she turned eighteen, valuing $500million.
References:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gianni-Versace
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/g/gianni-versace/
https://nymag.com/fashion/06/fall/19388/
https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/a14442138/who-is-andrew-cunanan-gianni-versace-murderer/
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1997/09/cunanan199709
https://vault.fbi.gov/andrew-phillip-cunanan/andrew-phillip-cunanan-part-01-of-01
