Gianni Versace: the landmark retrospective of the Italian couturier at the Maillol Museum this summer, 2026

Baroque, sexy, sun-soaked: this summer, Paris goes Versace mode! From June 5 to September 6, 2026, the Musée Maillol, tucked in the 7th arrondissement, rolls out the golden carpet—naturally—for the Gianni Versace Retrospective, the first major French exhibition devoted to the designer since 1986. After shows dedicated to Dolce & Gabbana or Rick Owens, the capital reinforces its taste for grand-format fashion celebrations by paying tribute to one of its most flamboyant and iconic figures.

A towering figure in international fashion, Gianni Versace has never done things by halves. Glamour, sculptural sensuality, Baroque opulence... the designer forged an aesthetic where excess becomes a signature. At stake, a XXL retrospective with nearly 450 pieces - iconic silhouettes, accessories, sketches, decorative objects, photos, videos and rare interviews - offers a rich panorama of his work.

Styled as a life-size runway by Nathalie Crinière, the scenography sweeps through virtually every corner of the museum and traces a career stitched together with care, from Calabria beginnings to Parisian ascent. For Versace, Paris was the ultimate catwalk. While he helped tilt the energy of fashion toward Milan by the late 1970s, he chose the 1989 Paris Fashion Week to launch Atelier Versace. At the Ritz, on Place Vendôme, his shows became legendary—more than shows, true royal courts—until his final appearance, flanked by his supermodels, before his untimely death in Miami in 1997.

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Guided by its legendary mantra — "It’s in my work that you’ll find me" — the fashion exhibition also opens up a whole world of inspirations: from a Calabria family workshop to its bold visual preoccupations, weaving Catholic iconography, Greek statuary, Italian opera and a fascination with the Baroque. Its creations dialog with Sandro Botticelli, Antonio Canova or Pablo Picasso, cross paths with the Pop Art of Andy Warhol and resonate with the universe of Julian Schnabel.

The Versace image also makes its mark through the lenses of Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Patrick Demarchelier and Mario Testino. It also comes alive on stage, carried by Madonna, Elton John, George Michael, Grace Jones, Prince, the Princess Diana or Elizabeth Hurley. Not to mention the supermodels — Carla Bruni, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Karen Mulder and Linda Evangelista — who helped usher in a new era of fashion, captured in show videos, shoots and archival footage.

Having already toured London, Berlin and Malaga, the exhibition finally lands in Paris. From punk and bondage eras to late-career minimalism, from Miami’s sun-soaked energy to a flood of prints, Versace’s work promises to set fashion, art, and pop culture in motion all at once.