The house of Versace is on a roll. New investors are in the cards; a prime retail location has just been secured in the prestigious Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, a Milanese historical landmark; and with a little help from Lady Gaga cast as a Donatella doppelgänger in the ad campaign, the label is poised to reach a huge new pool of little monsters. Versace is reportedly the most tweeted-about Italian fashion company, ahead of Armani, Gucci, and Prada.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Ms. V is seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses these days. Pink is at the core of the Pre-Fall collection, but Versace being Versace, Donatella strikes a bold conversation between opposites: pink/black, hard/soft, rough/smooth, street/glam. Provocation is the core of the brand. Here, though, shapes were fluid and feminine, shoulders were rounded, and volumes more generous. Among the key items: tough biker jackets with diamond studs, and draped minidresses in silk jersey, a house signature, but with a silhouette that looked less anatomical than usual, more sensual. Counterbalancing those feminine pieces were masculine tweeds in oversize proportions and the requisite glamorous minks.
