Versace: New logos, location and line

As women and men are equal in life, so they are on the catwalk, nowhere more so than at Versace, as Donatella staged her first ever truly co-ed show as night fell on Milan.

Guys and gals came out as couples or in small groups in her Fall/Winter 2020-21 show, often in exactly the same fabrics and colors, though never with the same outfit.

Having a deep-pocketed new owner clearly suits Donatella Versace, who staged a great, full-blown glamour show at Piazza Lina Bo Bardi, in a giant underground space underneath Milan’s Diamond Tower, located across the street from Versace’s new world headquarters in the booming Porta Nuova neighborhood.

A thousand life-sized heads of Donatella greeted guests, projected onto a truly massive 80-meter-long and five-meter-high LED wall. Pre-show, the wall also projected the audience, distorting the editors, buyers and influencers like a show ground mirror. Then out walked the cast. Donatella has included men in women’s shows before, but never so equally.

For next fall, Donatella has shortened skirts lengths, nipped in waists and produced a hyper linear collection. She opened with a blond couple in black technical gabardine suits, the girl wearing platforms with her skirt, the guy’s pants tucked into chunky heeled wellingtons. Skirt lengths were so high they were almost indecent, while red houndstooth blazers were cut like double-breasted mini dresses.

Breaking the pattern, she displayed some great some great mini A-line puffers and then wowed with a new computer-graphic zebra print used in cocktails, coats and men’s suits, all the while projecting the pattern onto the massive wall.

“What I’m trying to say with this collection is that sensuality comes through the brain first. The clothes become a means to an end. To me, hyper masculine is okay for menswear and hyper feminine is okay for womenswear,” explained the designer in a pre-show discussion with editors.

Donatella emblazoned almost everything with Vs, from python bags and varsity jerseys to tracksuits and white socks, but she varyied her logo enormously.

“I focused on distorting the Versace baroque, making it more energetic and altering the shapes,” she concluded.

Outside the show space, the house had even installed yet another version of the V, a mighty 10-meter-high black and white letter sculpture celebrating the most powerful show by the blonde bombshell in a half decade.

However, in her pre-show discussion Donatella wanted to speak about a far more urgent matter.

“I wanted to talk about the rise of hate crimes that keep happening all over the world. We all have a strong voice. Myself as a designer and you as journalists. And we must use it. What happened in Germany two days ago was the last straw for me. We need to act and we need to be fast. We must not permit young people to feel that going back to the horror of the past is a good thing,” she said sadly.

Versace: New logos, location and line

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