Deborah Ball, a longtime correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, has interviewed hundreds of Versace family members, Gianni’s mistresses, business rivals, models he helped to international fame, and fashion icons including the legendary editor of Vogue. a” Anna Wintour.
Read an excerpt from the book:
Until around 1990, top models such as Naomi, Christy and Linda did not even dream of performing on the catwalk. The industry has traditionally been divided into two distinct categories. The models working in the shows had a physique – nice shoulders, a narrow waist, boyishly thin hips and very long legs – which allowed them to present designer clothes favorably, but their faces were usually not attractive enough to appear in magazine advertisements. The models featured on the pages of magazines, on the other hand, had pretty faces, but they were rarely slim and tall enough to flaunt tiny creations on the catwalks. What’s more, the designers paid far too little to encourage them to participate in the shows. In the late 1980s, Christy Turlington was paid around $800,000 for twelve days of shooting for a Maybelline cosmetics campaign, while she was paid roughly one and a half million lire, the equivalent of $1,000, for participating in a fashion show in Milan. The nerves and effort of working on the runway weren’t worth the top models’ time and money.
But Donatella, tirelessly drawing celebrities into Versace’s sphere of influence, saw an opportunity. In the late 1980s, she realized that three new girls – Christy, Naomi and Linda – were attracting media attention to a degree never before seen in the industry. Eager for something fresh, celebrity reporters took them into their sights and soon dubbed them “the trinity.”
Christy, the California-born daughter of a pilot and a former flight attendant from El Salvador, became the first of the three to become famous. With her clean, intelligent countenance, she was the epitome of refined American beauty, and she quickly became a favorite of Steven Meisel, an avant-garde photographer and protégé of Anna Wintour.
Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington in 1993 By John Barrett/PHOTOlink.net/East News
The other, Linda, was the daughter of a worker at the General Motors car factory in the Canadian province of Ontario and was distinguished by an elegant, feline appearance. Her career took off when she married the head of a powerful modeling agency, who promoted her among leading photographers, mainly Meisel.
The third – and a few years younger than the others – was destined to one day outshine her companions and become a real superstar. Naomi Campbell was born in South London on the wrong side of the River Thames and raised by a single mother, an exotic dancer of Jamaican descent. As a teenager, she wanted to become a dancer herself, and her mother saved every penny to enroll her slender daughter in a dance school in central London. One day in 1985, fifteen-year-old Naomi was shopping for tap shoes in London’s West End when a modeling agent spotted her. Seeing her warm toffee skin, narrow eyes, and wide smile, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. Soon, Naomi made her debut in the British edition of “Elle” magazine.
She showed up for the photo shoot with just two blurry Polaroid photos, but she managed to charm the editors right away. Soon, while filming in London, Naomi met Christy. “She was wearing her high school uniform,” the American later recalled. “She was really cute.” When Naomi moved to New York, Christy introduced her to top magazine editors and photographers, including Steven Meisel. In 1988, Meisel began arranging joint photo shoots for the three of them. Together they made an explosive mixture. Not all models look good together, but the different beauty of these three girls complemented each other. Soon the magazines booked them all at once.
By then, Naomi had become a favorite among New York nightlife enthusiasts. In one evening, she was able to visit up to five different parties and clubs, and her interesting life attracted the attention of the tabloids.
In 1987, at just seventeen, she met heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, with whom she secretly began dating. When, in early 1989, she made their relationship public by appearing in the front row of the audience at one of his fights, it aroused huge media interest. Thanks to the affair with Tyson, she came into the limelight of the media, and her subsequent relationship with Robert De Niro has permanently put her in the spotlight. In September 1990, she became the first black woman to appear on the cover of the September issue of “Vogue” – the most important issue of the year dedicated to fall collections. As if that wasn’t enough, Naomi, Christy and Linda often went out together to the paparazzi’s delight.
Christy introduced Naomi Donatelli, who saw a unique opportunity in the models, if only she could use the insatiability of the tabloids for her own purposes. Moreover, the popularity of the “trinity” among the most influential photographers and magazine editors provided an opportunity to increase the interest of the American media in the creations of her brother.
Naomi Campbell in Warsaw in 1994 photo. Sławomir Kamiński / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
– Gianni, we must bring these girls to our shows – pronounced excited Donatella after returning from one of the trips to New York. “They’re incredibly attractive.” We just need to reserve them for the show.
“You must have gone mad!” he retorted. “Just look at them!” They don’t have the right shape. How could I even wear them?
In fact, all three were characterized by abundant breasts, hips and ass – something that was unheard of for traditional models from the catwalk. Nor did they have the slightest idea of the show’s peculiar way of walking, in which the model thrusts her hips forward while clenching her buttocks. Added to this was the resistance of their agents to Donatella’s offer.
David Brown, a top modeling agent who started working in Milan in 1981, recalled: “It was almost impossible to get girls because the wages were low and many of the girls were too big. Besides, they didn’t really care about the marketing of such shows.” .
But Donatella’s hunch was right. According to the account of Nunzio Palamara, an early collaborator of the Versace fashion house, “Donatella was constantly on the road while Gianni spent his weekends on Lake Como. It was Donatella who brought Kate Moss”, the famous British filigree model. “Gianni asked: ‘What is this skinny thing?’ and Donatella replied: ‘You’ll see, in two years you’ll be begging me to get her at all costs'”.
Donatella began to confuse the agents of the three models, proposing to beat the regular show rates three times and more. By then, she herself had made friends with the members of the “trinity”, taking part in New York parties and banquets with them. She promised them favors hitherto unheard of in the case of models: Concorde flights, the best apartments (by no means an ordinary room) in five-star hotels in Milan, free clothes, cars and chauffeurs at their disposal. Once she had managed to get models to the capital of Lombardy, she treated them to the luxuries of the Villa Fontanelle for a few days, dragged them to parties and dinners in her private apartment, and at night took them to Milan’s most fashionable discos. Soon the ladies agreed to her proposal.
Their appearance on the runway in Versace’s shows ushered in an era in which supermodels became so famous that they were recognized by their name alone. Donatello’s hit team was joined by other girls: Carla Bruni, Helena Christensen, Claudia Schiffer (an unearthly blonde from Germany, whose agent did not allow her to take part in George Michael’s “Freedom” music video), and also Cindy Crawford. Not all of them behaved freely on the runway: despite the Versace team’s increased efforts, they failed to unlearn Claudia Schiffer from her unsteady jiggling.
Claudia Schiffer in Poland in 1995 photo. Sławomir Kamiński / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
“We had to give Claudia shoes without heels because she couldn’t move in them,” confessed Angelo Azzena. bothered. After all, Claudia was on the cover of American Vogue.
House of Versace. The untold truth about genius, murder and survival promotional materials – Margins
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
