If Donatella Versace brought it all back home to Via Gesù for her men s show in June, it was always going to be the women s show that really underscored her refreshed commitment to the heritage of the house. Guests who remembered skirting security at this very location in her brother Gianni s heyday were positively misty-eyed when they walked into the tented garden where today s presentation took place. And, in keeping with her recent confident exploration of the family archive, Donatella plucked one of the most graphic elements from Versace s past to mark this watershed moment. But she did it her way. The baroque curlicues that were once a house signature were blown up into a single boldly colored detail—a vine, a flower—and dropped onto a shift in black wool crepe. It was simple and strong, exactly what Donatella wanted.
The same boldness shaped a black sheath with a snaky strand of emerald green python coiling around Isabeli Fontana s body. And the snaky-ness was amplified in a python sheath. In fact, the collection reclaimed skins for the house, especially with a midnight leather jacket and matching box-pleated skirt. But what might look most seductive to customers next fall is the military influence. It loaned a short, sharp silhouette to a double-breasted black coat, a white coat-dress, and a gold-buttoned cadet jacket and matching skirt.
These looks were so immediate that they had a curious side effect: The eveningwear that is a Versace mainstay came across as almost an afterthought, bar the final glittering silver column with its trail of white marabou and vampish silent-movie-queen oomph.
