Ah, naughty Gianni! The front cover of Do Not Disturb shows Versace himself in a Renaissance pose, wrapped in a sumptuous silk quilt; what you can't see on this page is the back cover, on which a nude Claudia Schiffer, hair snaking around her beautiful shoulders like a Teutonic Medusa's, gives you a come-hither stare as she toys with the same strategically placed quilt. Versace, before his untimely death in 1997, had perfected the art of living voluptuously, and these photographs--about half of which include perfect, mostly naked people romping gleefully through the sybaritic surroundings of Versace's various homes (in Milan, Miami, and Lago di Como)--are a testament to his great ability to elevate the beautiful to icon status. For its sheer, amazing gorgeousness, this may be the most wonderful (and one of the most poignant) lifestyle books of the last few years.
Do Not Disturb FROM THE PUBLISHER
Gianni Versace's unbridled enthusiasm for the baroque finds new expression in Do Not Disturb, his playful peek behind the closed doors of the Versace homes. Versace's Garden of Eden is found at home - be that a stuccoed Ottocento pavilion fronting the Lago di Como, a sumptuous home office in the center of the fashion capital, or an Art Deco pile in South Beach. Versace's Adam and Eve might well be Sylvester Stallone and Claudia Schiffer, modestly shielding themselves from our view with a Gorgon-headed dinner plate. His vision is translated through the lens of the world's most accomplished photographers - Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, and Massimo Listri - and illustrated with a cornucopia of drawings and pastels by Karl Lagerfeld and Gladys Perint Palmer. Sir Roy Strong, a former Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, contributes a stunning text to match the visual feast.
Art & Photography
Book Info
