A large-scale Gianni Versace retrospective opens in Paris.

From June 5 to September 6, 2026, the Musée Maillol will present the Gianni Versace Retrospective – the largest French exhibition dedicated to the designer since 1986. The exhibition will bring together more than 400 archival objects, including original images, accessories, sketches, photographs, videos and personal belongings of Gianni Versace.

Almost thirty years after the designer’s tragic death, the retrospective offers a look not only at his legacy, but also at the very moment when fashion began to turn into a global cultural phenomenon.

Today, the name Versace is associated with the golden medusa, supermodels, sexuality and Italian maximalism. But Gianni Versace’s influence was much broader.

He was one of the first to combine luxury fashion with pop culture, rock music, celebrities and art, in fact creating the model of interaction between the brand and the celebrity, which today seems to be the industry standard.

The exhibition pays special attention to the era of the 1980s and 1990s – the period when Versace defined the visual language of the decades. It was then that Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer appeared on the brand’s catwalks, and the fashion house itself helped to shape the phenomenon of supermodels in its modern sense.

However, the retrospective opens at a very symbolic moment for the brand itself.

After the acquisition of Versace by the Prada group and a series of staff changes, the fashion house is experiencing one of the most important stages of transformation in recent years. In 2026, Peter Muller was appointed the new creative director of the brand and it is him, who will determine the next chapter in the history of Versace.

And that is why the exhibition seems particularly relevant. And not just as a journey into the archives. But as a reminder that before the advent of “quiet luxury”, there was another aesthetic – loud, dramatic, sensual and absolutely fearless.

And Gianni Versace possessed it like no other designer

Article author: Anna Konstantynova