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It's a name everyone who can spell 'fashion' has heard of, but a name few in India can explain the actual significance of. The actual name is Gianni Versace. Born in 1946 in Italy, he grew up watching his mother craft clothes, opened his first boutique in Milan, achieved superstardom as a fashion designer in America, and then got shot dead just outside the gate of his Miami mansion on 16 July, 1997. Phew! What a life. Versace had revenues of half a billion dollars---a fifth of it sheer profit---by the time he was assassinated. For a man who glorified "men without ties", he was mourned by quite some people, including notable members of the era's glitterati. Many, of course, were customers: Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Courtney Love, Liz Hurley, Princess Di, Jon Bon Jovi, Sly Stallone and Sting, to name just a few of the celebrities who wore Versace. The lady in the picture? That's Donatella Versace, Gianni's sister. She took over the design job of the business after he was gunned down. 'Chic' is outdated, 'cool' is in, she declared some years ago, and she has been bang-on. Chic is out, cool is in. She is now the accepted successor to the man who challenged the boundaries of sexual clothing (and sexual freedom) with such élan in Europe and America, and got rich doing it. Remember Liz Hurley's black number held together by safety-pins at the premier of a Hugh Grant film? That was a Versace. Remember J-Lo's palm print held together by mysterious resistant-to-mortal-will forces at that Oscar ceremony? That was a Versace. For years and years, if there was anything that could draw gasps in Hollywood, it was a Versace outfit. And if the man was besotted by the mythological image of Medusa, it was probably because his creations did have the power to turn man to stone... or at least manhood stone-hard... with just one look. Versace even had a wristwatch series called La Medusa. For an insight into his creative appeal, however, do this. Pick up this book of his called Men Without Ties. Or just surf your way to it on the net, and take a good hard look at the cover. It has this naked man arm-outstretched across the book, his body well toned, muscles sculpted but relaxed. Not Vitruvian style, though. The figure twists to the side at the waist---which is wrapped, you notice, in a solitary something that looks like a broad necktie. Look closer, and you see stars n stripes. Blue, red. Familiar. Except that the picture is black and white. And then---hey, what's that? Black, white... it's the cloth on the farther side. They're checks, no doubt. But heck, they sure aint regular square checks. They look like refracted angle checks or somethin'. Is it an illusion... or is it a pattern you dare not recognize? Admit it. Nobody gets shot for being just a glorified tailor.
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