If the original purpose of a Resort collection was something to make you want to play, Donatella Versace gave her customers clothes that might make them want to playact. There was a vibrant early sixties sex-bomb pulse to many of the looks (yes, that orange cocktail dress would live on Christina Hendricks). The clothes had a sleek, kittenish spirit with all the oomph and optimism of Pop art before the decade went to pot. The Lichtenstein dot was the key motif, lined up in various sizes to trick the eye and define the body, sometimes in combination with strips of the kind of ribbon you might have found in Donatella's mother's sewing box. That proper little retro echo resonated in a sundress and jackets in safari and Panama styles—imagine them trimmed and cropped for a sixties spy girl, and the image comes into focus. Even more so with an abbreviated pink trench. If only the girl from U.N.C.L.E. had access to such finery.
Versace wanted an emphasis on ease. Though the silhouette was scuba-streamlined and short, stretch fabrics let the body move, as in the white leather safari dress, which had a sort of body gusseting in a combination of cotton and nylon. But it was ultimately the color scheme that gave the collection its kick. Orange, pink, mint, pistachio, and lilac run in the Versace veins. Cute accessory alert: a knapsack looky-likey that broke down into four bags, just perfect for mum, teen, and two tweens. Now that's home economy.
