With her latest men s show, Donatella Versace returned to Via Gesù 12, the spiritual—and actual—home of the label in the center of Milan. The move was very much in keeping with her refocus on Versace s iconic elements, an approach that is crystal-clear in her womenswear. That same focus has yet to manifest itself in the collection for men, however.
Last season, the line s latest creative director, Martyn Bal, went rockabilly. This season, he opted for a mood he somewhat reluctantly tagged "new wave." The initial stern monochromatics—the leathers, the white shirts and skinny black ties, the pointy boots—definitely had the angular Teutonic edge of a particular moment in early-eighties Berlin. So did the gray-toned jacquards that cropped up later in the show. But the stated theme of the collection was in fact 3-D, which is about as 2011 as you can get. It manifested itself to a degree in the optical knits or the surfaces that were raised on knits and leathers by quilting. The 3-D leathers reminded Donatella of Versace menswear from another era, which was apt, given the setting. And, seeing as we were pondering the past, the cobalt blue double-breasted coat also sparked a memory of a time when the Versace man bestrode the catwalk like a fashion colossus. The blue-steeled modern counterpart on today s runway was a pallid simulacrum.
