Gold snake jeans, bondage dresses, silk jodhpurs: More than 100 outfits created by Gianni Versace are going on show in Berlin, some 20 years after the designer's death.
Organizers of the "Gianni Versace Retrospective" opening Tuesday at the German capital's Kronprinzenpalais put together the show with contributions from private collectors around the world.
Creations of Italian designer Gianni Versace are displayed at an exhibition to honor him more than 20 years after his death in 1997, at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Versace's sexy and daring clothes in the 1980s and 1990s made him a favorite among rockers, Hollywood stars and other celebrities. The wide-ranging exhibit covers both women's and menswear, and includes pieces such as a tailcoat ensemble made for Sting's wedding in 1992 and many others worn by everyone from Madonna and Prince to Naomi Campbell.
He was gunned down outside his Miami Beach, Florida, mansion on July 15, 1997, by Andrew Cunanan, who killed himself a few days later.
Co-curator Karl von der Ahe said the new show stemmed from a chance meeting with a major Versace collector, which generated a desire to "show the breadth of the work."
Creations of Italian designer Gianni Versace are displayed at an exhibition to honor him more than 20 years after his death in 1997, at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
"Such an overview of his work is something special," he said.
The exhibition developed as it went along, fellow curator Saskia Lubnow said. Organizers started out with a "we'll take what we get" approach, but increasingly "thought about what Gianni was, how Gianni thought, what did he want to say" and went looking for specific pieces.
The exhibition is arranged by theme, rather than chronologically — starting, for example, with a room of creations in black and gold.
Creations of Italian designer Gianni Versace are displayed at an exhibition to honor him more than 20 years after his death in 1997, at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Versace had his first exhibition in Berlin in 1994 and, organizers say, had planned to come back to the city — not one of the top traditional fashion centers.
"You might say that Paris would be easier, or Milan, because people there have a greater affinity for this kind of thing and understand fashion more as part of their world," von der Ahe said. But "it is a city that can use something like this ... perhaps it will push another view of Berlin's development as a city of fashion."
The exhibition runs until April 13.
Creations of Italian designer Gianni Versace are displayed at an exhibition to honor him more than 20 years after his death in 1997, at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has issued new guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 now require approval from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The guidance, issued this week, escalates the role that the new efficiency group, known as DOGE, plays in EPA operations.
“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction (valued at) $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,″ the EPA guidance says, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
To facilitate the DOGE team review, EPA staff members have been directed to submit a brief, one-page explanation of each funding action each day between 3 and 6 p.m. Eastern time, the guidance says. Other relevant forms also must be completed.
President Donald Trump has tasked DOGE with digging up what he and Musk call waste, fraud and abuse. The Republican president suggested Thursday that Cabinet members and agency leaders would take the lead on spending and staffing cuts, but he said Musk could push harder down the line.
“If they can cut, it’s better," Trump said of agency leaders. “And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”
The EPA did not respond to a request Friday for comment.
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the new directive “troubling,'' adding that it means agency actions, including routine contracts and grant awards, “now face unnecessary bureaucratic delays."
Routine expenditures such as small-scale grants for air and water quality monitoring, laboratory equipment purchases, hazardous waste disposal at federal sites and money for municipal recycling programs are among spending that will probably be affected, he said.
Whitehouse, an outspoken critic of Musk and Trump, said the involvement of Musk’s “unvetted, inexperienced team raises serious concerns about improper external influence on specialized agency decision-making."
In a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, Whitehouse said spending actions greater than $50,000 are often complex and require specialized knowledge of environmental science, policy and regulations. “Allowing unskilled, self-proclaimed ‘experts,’ not vetted for conflicts of interest, to have veto power over funding determinations is inappropriate and risks compromising the agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment," Whitehouse wrote.
An EPA directive says the new guidance is intended to comply with executive orders issued by Trump that seek to restrict federal spending.
Whitehouse called those orders illegal, adding: “It is already established by court order that it is Congress that authorizes and appropriates funds for specific purposes, not the (White House) Office of Management and Budget or the president via executive order or DOGE.”
The dispute over the spending guidelines comes as Zeldin has pledged sharp spending cuts as high as 65% at the agency.
“We don’t need to be spending all that money that went through the EPA last year,” Zeldin said last week. “We don’t want it. We don’t need it. The American public needs it and we need to balance the budget.”
President Joe Biden requested about $10.9 billion for the EPA in the current budget year, an increase of 8.5% over the previous one, but Zeldin said the agency needs far less money to do its work. He also criticized EPA grants authorized under the 2022 climate law, including $20 billion for a so-called green bank to pay for climate and clean-energy programs.
Zeldin has vowed to revoke contracts for the still-emerging bank program that is set to fund tens of thousands of projects to fight climate change and promote environmental justice.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said last week that Trump, DOGE and Zeldin are all “committed to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse."
A 65% reduction in spending would be devastating to the EPA and its mission, said Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238. Core actions such as monitoring air and water quality, responding to natural disasters and lead abatement, among other agency functions, are at risk, she said.
FILE - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks at the East Palestine Fire Department in East Palestine, Ohio, Feb. 3, 2025. (Rebecca Droke/Pool Photo via AP, File)
