Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Versace has recently launched its Medusa Icon Watch in pastel pink.
The Swiss-made timepiece arrives as part of the fashion house’s Fall 2021 “Medusa Icon” collection. A symbol of beauty and strength, Medusa is placed at the center in the form of a three-dimensional figure and is surrounded by the signature Greca pattern in gold. Elsewhere, the textured champagne dial is wrapped in a matching top ring, while a black cabochon adorns the crown. The design is finished with a pink leather strap with a metal loop. Gianni Versace Medusa Secret Watch was a fashion rock star. The degree to which fashion and pop culture have become synonymous is due in great part to his work: he was a true innovator who masterfully spun fashion into a form of artistic performance, glamorous and theatrical, sexy and celebrity driven.
Versace’s superstar image, however, wasn’t guided solely by a taste for unconventionality. He was indeed a master designer, fueled by fearless passion for his craft and an appreciation of classical art and architecture, which he used to redefine the fashion world. Hellenic heritage and mythology were among Gianni Versace’s muses. He was born, after all, in Reggio di Calabria in Southern Italy, part of the region once known as Magna Graeca or Great Greece. The Greeks colonized Magna Graeca many centuries ago, and in doing so left an indelible imprint of Greek culture and tradition, much of which endures to this day.
Those early years in Reggio di Calabria may be where Versace first became aware of the Medusa head: it is featured on the flag of neighboring Sicily in a silhouette that bears semblance to Versace’s own portrayal of the mythical character. But it was the deeper symbolism of Medusa that compelled Versace to adopt the figure as the central image of the Versace logo. Gianni Versace’s incarnation of Medusa is based on a more alluring representation of the legendary mortal, where Medusa is suggestive of power, strength and beauty that constitutes a propitious sense of the mythology. The Versace Medusa Secret Watch head, as it appears in the brand’s logo, is an expression of Versace’s vision: she encompasses Versace’s taste for tradition and classical nuance along with his desire to astonish audiences with designs that are striking in their brilliance, originality and style. The Versace Medusa head logo features the head of Medusa at its center portrayed as a beautiful woman with a supernatural aura. Rather than snakes for hair, the Versace logo depicts Medusa at a time when her golden hair overflowed. Her beauty is apparent in her proportional features and fulsome lips, but her eyes remain hollow, her intentions ambiguous.
Medusa’s head is encircled by a ring of Greek keys –- decorative patterns based on single lines that twist like a maze – another quintessential Versace design motif. The name “Versace” is usually printed below the image, although the logo is among the most recognizable in the world, with or without the name. The Medusa head logo appears on all sorts of Versace Medusa Secret Watch items including Versace sunglasses, Versace pendants, Versace writing instruments and Versace timepieces.
