Runway to Kim’s Way: A Fashion Compendium on Kardashian West’s Obsession With Vintage Versace
When it comes to personal style, we all have our security blankets. Some get attached to a pair of Levi’s jeans or Stan Smith sneakers; others have a go-to designer dress for special occasions. These are the pieces in our wardrobes that make us feel confident and secure and that never fail to put a smile on our faces, even if we’ve worn them upwards of 100 times. Kim Kardashian West is a dedicated obsessive when it comes to the Versace archives, specifically pieces designed by the late Gianni Versace in the early ’90s. Counting up her many Versace turns will take more than two hands, and she wore the designer again last night for her sister Kourtney Kardashian’s 40th birthday celebration. At the party at Kris Jenner’s house, Kardashian West wore a black crystal minidress from the Fall 1997 Atelier Versace collection. She posted a selfie, as well as a runway image of the original dress, to her Instagram stories ahead of the event.
Over the past year, Kardashian West has pulled from the Versace archive in droves: a silvery beaded gown from Fall 1998, a pink chain mail mini from the Fall 1997 couture show, and a little canary yellow dress from the Spring 1996 collection. Last year, Donatella Versace designed a custom chain mail gown for Kardashian West to wear to the Met Gala, inspired by one of the iconic bejeweled cross dresses from Gianni’s Fall 1987 Atelier Versace show. It was so special to Kardashian West, in fact, that she later promised she’d give it to her daughter North when it was time for prom. For the 2018 Met Gala after-party, Kardashian West wore another custom dress modeled on one that was first shown in Gianni Versace’s famous “Bondage” show in 1992. Though she’s been known to wear a throwback look from Helmut Lang or Thierry Mugler, Kardashian West has mined the Versace archive like no other celebrity has done before, and last night was proof that her fascination with the brand isn’t waning. To date, the Vogue cover girl has worn no less than 10 vintage Versace looks in the course of 12 months.
For a woman who has defined so many provocative new trends in the age of Instagram—and for a woman who has a garage-size closet stuffed with a spectrum of luxury fashion labels—it’s novel for Kardashian West to be so loyal to a single brand. But even megastars like what they like, and for Kardashian West, that just happens to be archival Versace. In an effort to keep up with her obsession, below is a brief fashion history lesson on the ’90s-era Versace collections that have been given new life by Kim Kardashian West.
