For Resort, Donatella Versace went West, referencing rodeo queens—women with a sexy spirit of adventure and a fearless femininity. It’s a description which could actually apply to the designer herself, who embodies the powerful vitality the label stands for. No one lives and breathes the Versace lifestyle better than Donatella.
The mythology of the American West was one of her brother Gianni’s enduring fascinations; in 1992 he made headlines with a collection featuring cowboys and cowgirls in studded black leather regalia, twisted with a transgressive nod to bondage. The frontier was an apt reference for his groundbreaking take-no-prisoners exploration of confident excess. “Fashion knows no boundaries or frontiers,” she said via email. More prosaically, this notion of conquering new territories could have something to do with the expansion the company is foreseeing, after having been acquired in 2018 by Capri Holdings.
Versace’s house codes are powerful, instantly recognizable signifiers: the Medusa medallion and the safety pin; the studded cowboy buckle; the Barocco motifs; the sexy innuendo of the color black. They were all here in the Resort collection, filtered through a nod to pop culture and coalescing around an ‘80s-inspired structured silhouette.
Versace tailoring is inherently assertive. For Resort, it was anchored by broad padded shoulders and accented with knotted bandanna-inspired printed-silk foulards. Elsewhere those bandannas morphed into a series of asymmetrical printed-silk slip dresses cinched at the waist by studded black leather belts. Sporty bombers with denim inserts were made in chocolate-color suede, introducing an element of tactile softness; a similar sensual feel graced a series of camel wrap-around blanket coats and ponchos with printed-silk lining and fringed hem.
Prints being one of the house’s defining visual ingredients, they were lavishly displayed in tie-dye, animalier, or curlicued Western Barocco patterns on bodycon silk dresses and daywear separates. Counterbalancing this head-spinning visual abundance, black dresses were a standout, offered in a great variety of shapes from fluid, asymmetrical numbers to more structured and sexy versions, with heart-shaped necklines and ‘80s shoulders.
On a touching note, Gianni Versace’s original handwritten signature was transformed into a new logo, which was either embroidered, all-over printed, or picked out with Swarovski crystals. But there’s no place for nostalgia in the house of Versace; Donatella’s eyes are set on the present. “The Versace woman has her feet firmly planted on living the moment and in real life,” she said. She definitely practices what she preaches. Her recent appearance in New York alongside Lady Gaga to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the uprising at the Stonewall Inn was testament to her personal involvement on the issues that matter most today.
