The Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace was gunned down in front of the gates to his opulent mansion in Miami's South Beach on July 15. The FBI quickly named their prime suspect as the spree killer Andrew Cunanan. The world's media seized on the story, which linked the glamor of high fashion and some of the world's most famous celebrities with America's gay community and a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list. On July 23, the police search ended when Cunanan's body was found on a Miami Beach houseboat. Cunanan, who shot himself with a .40 caliber pistol, was thought to have murdered his five victims out of a misplaced sense of revenge for contracting the HIV virus. However, as an autopsy revealed that Cunanan was not infected with the virus, his motivation remains a mystery.

Gianni Versace was born in a rundown district of Reggio Calabria, on the 'toe' of Italy on December 2, 1946. His mother worked as a seamstress in her own workshop, giving Versace an early introduction to the world of couture. His father was a coal merchant who subsequently opened an electrical shop. Although his father nurtured an ambition for his son to become a surveyor, Versace abandoned the training course to follow in his mother's footsteps. His decision to move to Milan to work as a fashion designer for a top fashion house in 1971 so angered his father that he refused to speak to Gianni until his mother's death seven years later.

Versace's haute couture designs for the well-heeled made him a fortune. He built up his empire with the support of his sister, Donatella, and his brother Santo, his business manager. He enjoyed his riches, preferring to spend his free time at his luxurious mansions by Lake Como and Miami rather than socializing in the brittle, superficial society of fashion. Versace had a reputation for being temperamental with his colleagues, and was sensitive to criticism. He would fly into a rage at any suggestion that he had Mafia connections.

Opinions were sharply divided when it came to the quality of Versace's design: while his admirers appreciated the bold, striking quality of his work, his detractors found it vulgar and tasteless. Versace made no secret of taking his inspiration from the gaudy attire of the prostitutes of Reggio Calabria.

Following the death of Versace, it seems likely that the fashion house will survive in the hands of his brother and sister. Santos will remain in charge of business, despite a bribery conviction last May, and his sister will handle the creative input.