Fashion Crimes – Style

The fashion world is most often associated with an attractive lifestyle: travel, fashion shows, designer clothes, models and so on. However, like everything in this world, the fashion industry also has a downside. Against the backdrop of the scandal with stolen items before the Balmain show, we recall the most notorious crimes in the fashion world.

Stolen Balmain items

Paris Fashion Week is approaching (the first shows will take place on September 25). Designers and models are preparing for their shows; the French capital will soon welcome guests, editors, influencers and critics. Ahead of their show, which will take place on September 27 near the Eiffel Tower, Balmain announced that part of their collection had been stolen. On the morning of September 17, the creative director of the brand, Olivier Rousteing, announced on his social networks that the van with items for the show had been stolen – it contained about 50 elements of the collection. According to Rousteing, the driver was not injured and the show will go on as scheduled. The French brand often presents impressive collections, including about 100 looks – so, despite the theft, Rousteing will still have something to show his audience. Theories immediately appeared on the Internet that the theft story was a promotional campaign for the Balmain show. Even if this is true, it is unlikely that we will ever know about it.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace

The murder of Gianni Versace became one of the most notorious crimes of the 1990s. During this time, Gianni made a name for himself as perhaps the most popular Italian designer of the decade. Everyone from wealthy Wall Street brokers to Princess Diana and Elton John wore his designs. On July 15, 1997, the designer went to buy a newspaper and was returning to his villa in Miami. On the way to the gate, he was shot – a certain Andrew Cunanan shot Versace twice in the head. It is still unknown what motivated Cunanan for this act: over a period of three months, he killed about five people, one of whom was Versace. The search for the killer did not bring results. Eight days after Gianni’s murder, police discovered Cunanan’s body – he had committed suicide.

The disappearance of Vittorio Missoni

Vittorio Missoni is the heir to the Missoni fashion empire, which was founded by his parents. In 1996, they transferred the company’s affairs to their children – Vittorio, Luca and Angela. Vittorio became the general director of the fashion house and was able to make it a big international brand. In 2013, he, his wife, two family friends and two pilots traveled from the Los Roques archipelago in Venezuela to the capital, Caracas, in a small private jet. At some point, the aircraft disappeared from radar and could not be found for about six months. Only 6 months after the loss, an American ship searching for another plane discovered the Missoni family’s plane – the serial number confirmed the find. The bodies of all those present on board were identified – except Vittorio himself. Of particular note is the fact that a bag belonging to Missoni was found 180 km east of the plane crash site. Nothing is still known about the fate of Vittorio Missoni.

Murder of Maurizio Gucci

In the 1990s, the Italian fashion house Gucci was going through hard times – the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and the Gucci family was gradually selling its shares in the company. The last Gucci to abdicate the fashion throne was the son of the founder of the Gucci brand, Maurizio. At that time, Maurizio’s ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, was not happy with this development of events – she was obsessed with money, power and her belonging to one of the most famous Italian families. In the mid-1990s, Maurizio sold his stake in the company, focused on his own life and prepared for a second marriage. Patricia considered the sale of the fashion house a personal betrayal and hired a hitman to kill her ex-husband. On March 27, 1995, Maurizio Gucci was shot and killed outside his office. For two years, the investigation did not produce any results, but later the police found a connection between the killer and Reggiani. The latter confessed to everything and was sentenced to 26 years in prison. After serving 18 years, Patricia was released. Explaining her motivation for hiring a hitman, Reggiani said: “I don’t have very good eyesight, and I didn’t want to miss.”

Ilya Petruk