THE year 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the tragic death of Gianni Versace, his sister, Donatella, has remembered her beloved brother in different ways throughout the year. Bringing back memorable designs and styles with her “homecoming” collection at MFW this year and announcing the Gianni Versace scholarship at CSM, London, Donatella honoured him in with a very personal show. Debuting the collection at the Triennale museum in Milan, she said, “This is a celebration of a genius, this is a celebration of an icon, this is a celebration of my brother.”
With an ongoing monologue about Gianni playing in the background, which transitioned into music, the models walked out in fierce packs as well as individually, showcasing 70-plus garments. From the famous silky gold and black chain design to bright shell designs to Versace brand t-shirts and bold Pop Art prints the collection looked back at the brand’s best years.
One stand-out look from the collection was a dark denim cowboy inspired shirt which was tucked into a billowing black and white skirt with gold ancient Italy style painting designs with baby cherubs. With a thick lining of cream lace the model wore leather back boot with golden buckles, a Versace bolo tie and Versace earrings. This outfit was very similar to that which Linda Evangelista wore in the brand’s SS1992 advert campaign. Another -look was the Marilyn Monroe and James Dean Pop Art glitter jumpsuits as well as Kaia Gerber’s vintage Vogue cover jumpsuit. The bright yellow, green, blue and red embellishments were also an homage to the labels early-1990s collection.
A Glass favourite were the block red, orange and purple power garments. Skin-tight trousers, a long pencil skirt with a knitted top and tailored blazers kept with the 1980s-‘90s theme but kept it 21st century modern. Another favourite was worn by Candice Swanepoel. She wore a blood red polo-style shirt and high-waited decorative trousers designed with religious iconography. With the cross on her ears and heels and a silk necktie, the ensemble was Versace in all its glory.
After the models did their final walk, a curtain opening revealing Carla Bruni, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and Helena Christensen just some of the biggest supermodels from the 1990s. Wearing alluring, yet elegant gold sequin dresses they walked down the runway with Donatella.
Gianni, this is for you.
by Amrit Chana
Images courtesy of Versace
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