What’s Next? Confronting The Future at Versace
In the current age of millennials, Donatella Versace is taking notice; “Fashion isn’t about what a designer shows anymore, it is what millennials and people on the street want, and respecting your own identity. Today it’s the millennials who are asking about our history, and it seemed right to remember what Gianni Versace built,” Donatella explained. She mined the archives and pulled from Gianni Versace’s most iconic collections from 1991-1995 to bring back the most beautiful prints and daring elements first introduced by her brother.
“I finally found the courage to really go into the archives and pay tribute to Gianni,” expressing that “it took a bit of pain,” says Donatella. The tailoring of the pinstripe suits and jackets were reminiscent of Gianni, but modernized with panels of secondary stripes and metal chain stitching. In a nod to streetwear, logo T-shirts, wide leg pants, and baroque swirl tracksuits were rendered in millennial pink or blue and worn with matching sneakers. Many of the most beloved iconic Versace prints were screened onto bombers jackets, silk shirts and trousers, with gold embroidered crowns adorning shoes, jackets, and hats. While athleisure was revisited on the runway with nostalgic tracksuits styled with small, round, retro framed sunglasses and ball caps. The street-style pieces balanced the many structured jackets to renew the eclectic and ornate culture that is classic Versace.
Today’s generation will be able to wear pieces once impossible to find from past collections, such as the Native American Collection from Fall ’92 last worn by supermodels Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, and most notably, the black and gold baroque prints from Fall ’91. Donatella included several women’s looks as well to complement the men’s, as it once was before the age of gender fluidity. The famous “Medusa” print was also seen on mini skirts and wrap dresses with models donning black headbands, derived from Gianni Versace’s last-ever couture show.
See All the Looks from the Collection
