According to the inimitable fashion editor and curator Diana Vreeland, a bikini reveals "everything about a girl except her mother's maiden name."1 As Vreeland noted, bikinis are defined by their scant coverage and are rarely more than a few triangles of fabric stitched or strung together. Though the bikini is now a widely accepted type of swim and beachwear, it took years for the bikini to go from scandalous to unremarkable. Bikinis, or bikini-like garments, appear in ancient Roman murals, and relatively modest two-piece suits were worn in the 1930s, but the scanty modern bikini didn't appear until 1946. Sources differ, but it seems that the revealing swimsuit was introduced almost simultaneously in summer 1946 by haute couture designer Jacques Heim and engineer/fashion designer Louis Réard. Heim called his scanty two-piece suit the atome, while Réard labeled his the bikini. Both names made reference to the US military's July 1946 nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll, a low-laying island located in the South Pacific. Réard's name for the revealing swimsuit stuck, and a new style of swimwear was born.
Bikini
Gianni Versace/Versace Mare
c. 1994-1999
Gift of Dorothy Washington Sorensen
S2010.1110.83A-D
Schoolgirl chic with a naughty edge was a strong theme throughout Gianni Versace’s Autumn/Winter 1994-95 collection. Statuesque supermodels Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Nadja Auermann walked the runway clad in shiny, candy-colored miniskirts paired with fuzzy, belly-baring turtleneck sweaters and Empire waist vinyl dresses with peek-a-boo midriffs. According to WWD, the “collection included hardly an outfit that wouldn't get a girl expelled."1 The aggressive sexuality showcased in these garments was a trademark of Versace's work. According to fashion historian Richard Martin, "Versace seized the streetwalker's bravado and conspicuous wardrobe, along with her blatant, brandished sexuality, and introduced them into high fashion."2
Leather two-piece suit Gianni Versace Autumn/Winter 1994-95 Gift of Dorothy Washington Sorensen S2010.1110.1AB
For the past few years, skulls have been everywhere, appearing as a motif on hand-knit sweaters, contemporary art, runway fashion, fast fashion and housewares. Despite their current incarnation as overused icon, the skull motif has weighty symbolic meaning. Skulls, skulls and crossbones and skeletons have been used for centuries, probably millennia, as a memento mori, a reminder of the fragility of human life. These same symbols have also functioned as a sign of danger, rebellion or threat, as in the Jolly Roger, the classic skull and crossbones pirate flag. No sober memento mori here, this Versus by Gianni Versace skull bracelet embodies the rebellious, counter-cultural side of the skull motif. Notice that each skull has a rose in its mouth and a raised lion medallion on the forehead.
Skull bracelet 1994 Versus/Gianni Versace Gift of Dorothy W. Sorensen V2010.1110.59
In 1992, Italian designer Gianni Versace was fascinated with the American West. That year, his collections featured design elements typically associated with the cowboy or cowgirl: boots, fringed leather, jackets with metal tipped lapels and Western motifs. Given Versace's reputation for designing aggressively sexual clothing, it is no surprise that his "Western wear" forced fashion writers to search for words "other than 'bondage' and 'sadomasochism' to describe the clothes."1 Though hinting at the practicality of leather garments sometimes worn by working cowhands, this fringed and studded leather vest lined with shearling would probably be more at home in a dark nightclub than out on the range.
Leather vest Gianni Versace 1992 Gift of Betty Kaplon 99.403.1
