Golden age of Versace goes on show as museum pays tribute to an icon of glamour

A shimmering gold metal mesh column embellished with Byzantine crosses and worn, most famously, by Naomi Campbell in July 1997. An ice-blue chiffon sheath, studded with rhinestones and sported by Diana, Princess of Wales, for her debut appearance in British Vogue. A little black slip of a number, held together by large gold safety pins, which, in 1994, instantly catapulted its wearer, one Elizabeth Hurley, to fame.

These are the three iconic garments greeting guests at the Gianni Versace retrospective, which previewed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London yesterday and opens to the public on Thursday.

In one moment, the designer's contribution to 20th- century dress – his obsession with unabashed glamour and the immense power of celebrity – is captured to the full.

The show is likely to prove controversial. To begin with, it is the first dedicated to a single designer's work in the museum's history, and the fact that Versace was Italian, as opposed to British, is likely to raise establishment eyebrows. The powers-that-be are quick to point out that a Vivienne Westwood retrospective will follow hot on its heels.

"We've always collected international fashion," the curator Claire Wilcox said. "Fashion is a global business and we are committed to reflecting that. Versace was extremely influential over British fashion, and the likes of John Galliano and Alexander McQueen in particular. Versace liberated fashion, if you like, gave it its theatrical force."

Taking in the famous Versace signatures – the Baroque gold print, the liquid chainmail, the black leather, bondage straps, power shoulders and ultra-short skirts – there seems little point arguing with that. Still, for a state museum, hitherto dedicated to a rather more sober contemplation of the applied arts, the work of Italy's king of glamour might strike purists as somewhat brash, or even, to cite the most oft-used and uptight criticism of his oeuvre, vulgar.

Ms Wilcox says: "That is a judgement based on misunder-standing. Versace himself said he didn't approve of good taste. He was clearly not aiming himself at the Armani client and, like every creative output, this has its own set of rules."

And they are rules that have an iconoclastic and proud-to-be politically incorrect arrogance at their core. Gianni Versace, of humble origin – he was born in 1946 in Reggio Calabria, one of the poorest areas of southern Italy – made a career out of showing the world that, for the brave and beautiful, class, and decorum in particular, had no place. Outfit after outfit goes to prove just that. Fashion photography – Linda Evangelista, shot in skin-tight leggings and bolero jacket by Irving Penn – and cleverly edited fashion show footage – the supermodels Evangelista again, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell parading down the catwalk in Versace's louder-than-life designs at the height of their fame – drive the message home.

Today, of course, the house of Versace is presided over by Gianni's sister, the platinum-blonde, perma-tanned siren Donatella, who is designer-in-chief of all collections and whose mission it has been, since her brother's murder in 1997, to preserve his name. At a press conference yesterday morning, dressed in a Gianni Versace original, customised only the night before the better to show off her gravy-brown stomach, La Versace said: "This is a very emotional moment for me. Of course, I remember each of these dresses, but to see them all together, and after such a long time ... I can't believe he was such a genius."