Which designer was celebrated by the Met’s 1997 exhibition titled “Gianni Versace”?

The designer celebrated by the Met’s 1997 exhibition titled “Gianni Versace” was Gianni Versace.

Versace founded his eponymous Italian fashion company in Milan in 1978. His designs became known for vivid color, bold prints, daring construction and references to classical Greek imagery. The Medusa head became the company’s recognizable symbol.

The Met exhibition presented his work as a major force in late twentieth-century fashion. Versace’s close relationships with musicians, actors and models also helped shape the increasingly visible connection between high fashion and popular culture.

The exhibition opened in 1997, the year Versace was murdered outside his Miami Beach home. That timing can lead to confusion about whether the exhibition was a retrospective after his death; it was organized during his lifetime and became especially significant because of the events that followed.