Making a Versace Miniseries Without Help from Versace

Re-creating the world of slain designer Gianni Versace for FX’s new season of American Crime Story was a unique challenge—especially without the support of the headlining brand itself. Costume designer Lou Eyrich had only five weeks and a limited budget to collect as many authentic 90s Versace pieces as she could for the nine-episode series—which tells the story of both Gianni’s killer and the designer’s decadent final days. Several episodes also flash back to milestone moments during his and his sister Donatella’s ascent, as they became the sexy couturiers of Madonna, Elton John, Courtney Love, and more.

“There were days when there were one, two, three, four, five of us from the costume department just sitting at computers on eBay and Etsy and First Dibs, calling high-end vintage stores across the states, just trying to locate whatever Versace we could get our hands on,” says Eyrich. “We were collecting at breakneck speed.”

For the pieces that were unavailable or simply too expensive for the American Crime Story budget—like the sensational gold-studded black-leather gown Donatella actually wore to the 1996 Met Ball—Eyrich had to get creative, speedily producing outfits that were both respectful of and representative of the luxury brand’s designs, yet different enough from the originals that their production was legal.

“We tried to re-create the Met Ball dress as closely as we could,” says Eyrich of the gown, which features prominently into Donatella’s character arc. “All of the hardware is cast in gold. The hardest part was finding the leather that would drape similarly. And then we had to find the actual Versace boots and belt that she wore with the dress, which we were able to find in Miami.”
Another scene that necessitated scoring real Versace designs was the house’s July 1996 fashion show, which on the series features six models wearing Gianni’s designs and six models wearing Donatella’s designs. At the time, brother and sister Versace had different tastes, in both fashion and models, which was evident to anyone in the audience.

“We watched and watched and watched and watched footage of that fashion show over and over,” says Eyrich, who narrowed the actual collection down to 12 representative looks. “We carefully chose which we were going to re-create . . . Gianni had a more colorful look, so the creams and the pinks and the yellows and the reds were Gianni. Donatella’s models, meanwhile, were more waif, heroin-chic models who wear all black and had the heavy eye makeup. It was important to show the difference between the designers’ visions at the time.”

Speaking about the challenge of approximating these designs legally, Eyrich explains: “We tried to follow their silhouette, so that our costumes would come off looking similar, but not exact. So we changed little details. . . . We also wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t offend Versace in any way. . . . We didn’t want to make the designs look cheap, or made for TV. We really wanted to show the couture aspect of the House of Versace and live up to the designer’s name—the way everything moved so beautifully on the runway. For us, it was about both choosing the right fabrics and making sure that the models had the right gait—the model casting was very important to that scene.”

Penélope Cruz, who stars as Donatella, was also concerned with being respectful of the brand and the designer—whom she counts as a friend. “Penelope wears a lot of Versace to events and had a lot of input, simply because she was very invested in the character and sensitive to portraying Donatella in a truthful and special light,” Eyrich says.
While paging through scenes with Eyrich, the actress told her costumer that she was partial to a 90s Versace collection with a black-leather western motif—with studded pants, leather cuffs, gold top stitching and buttons, and fringe. Eyrich, who was prepared to have someone construct an ensemble from scratch, ended up lucking out by finding a vintage Versace top with fringe in Cruz’s exact size in downtown Los Angeles.

While working on past projects, Eyrich says that she has pulled Versace designs for characters and moments that were “flashy, body-conscious, and fashion-forward.” Working up close and personal with so much Versace on this particular project, however, gave her a new appreciation for the fashion house—one she hopes audience members will also walk away with. “Seeing all the pieces in hand and the detailed couture work, like the drapes, I actually fell in love with the brand and what they created. I’m in awe of what they created and Donatella’s cleverness. I found a whole new love for the brand of Versace by the end of the show.”