The Don: Revisting My Favorite Versace Moments
Backstage at the Versace S/S 2017 show
I can’t definitely say when I fell in love with fashion. It was a gradual flirtation as a boy I had, because being interested in clothes and anything inherently feminine was always met with hostility. But I do remember those late nights sneaking to watch the cult classic television network, FashionTV. Models backstage being interviewed, celebrities posing while taking their seats in the front row, designers breaking down inspirations. It was a looking glass into the world that I was told was unserious and superficial.
But I soon discovered a woman, a pillar of vision, who would change my life. It was Milan Fashion Week, during the Fall/Winter season of 2009. Neon coats, aquamarine gowns, sequin mini dresses, models like something from a Prince video marched down the runway. This collection was a smack in the face, it was unlike anything I had seen before. The brand was Versace, the genius of it was a blonde dynamite named Donatella Versace.
In the following years, I tracked Donatella and her work closely; every collection, red carpet dress, campaign, and ludicrously diva moment with the brand matriarch. After nearly 30 years of her reign, Ms. Versace will be stepping down as creative director. Below I break down my favorite highlights of her career.
Couture F/W 1998
Done in collaboration with a then-rising Alexander McQueen, Donatella made a strategic move to team up with the British Invasion sweeping the industry. The couture featured a romantic but more gothic take on the Versace woman, McQueen’s Savile Row-trained eye came forward in the immaculate tailoring, whereas Ms. Versace raunched it up with a more feminine perspective. Expertly placed cutouts, black leather, shocking pops of blood-red.
Menswear F/W 2001
The Versace man is the most unapologetic European man across the major empirical labels. He’s rich, hot, pedigreed, flashy, and he knows you love it. That comes across very strongly in this presentation. Gold accented jacket, hand cut furs, leather jumpsuits, creme suits adorned with sweeping coats, chainmail tops perfect for a night at the disco. I love this season because it captures the wanderlust era of the early 2000s man so glamorously.
Women’s S/S 2005
Arguably one of the more definitive times in her career, this is one of those all-timer classics. Versace goes west as it plays with California relaxation but much more glam, going from the Malibu beach to the Hollywood carpets. Pastels, mini skirts, tropical prints, and award show ready gowns all made iconic by the legions of divas who wore it. Lil Kim wore the pieces almost exclusively during her Naked Truth era, even recreating the campaign lensed by Testino and starring Madonna, for her album promotion. Megan Fox also wore the beloved pink mini dress in one of her movies.
H&M Collection, 2011
Would it be fair to unironically say this may be my favorite collection ever, well, at least as collabs go ? Back when fashion labels did collabs without a resounding grunt from consumers like today, this was done in an era where bringing high end luxury to the masses felt exciting. The fast fashion retailer has worked with Balmain, Lanvin, Moschino, and others, but Versace's guest spot in 2011 still remains the best. Showcasing all the brand’s classics like the layered prints, stud embellishments, chainmail, leather (or in this case faux), graphic printed skinny jeans, and neon suits. One of the most major moments of the blog era, solely off of hype but actual well made fast fashion. The collection was so successful it spawned another collaboration with Versace doing a resort collection the following year.
Couture FW 2015
Midsummer Night’s Dream infused with Greek goddesses seemed to be the mood for this presentation. On a hot streak for several seasons, Ms. Versace took us to an enchanted forest swarming with flowers, as girls floated in distressed gowns and platform gogo boots, as if they were fairies in the middle of a discotheque. The relaxed bohemia was an unnatural turn but so refreshing, even the glam for the show referenced the late 60s with flower crowns and rosy cheeks. In the palette of an always sexy Versace woman, the softer side being highlighted is something I could have seen more of in the following years.
Menswear FW 2016
Men on the moon was the theme for the collection combined with a sense of Y2K boyband fever. Pristine whites with popping metallics underneath. Donatella sometimes seems to base her collections on Met Gala themes, and in 2016 the theme was about the intersection of fashion and tech. Outerwear and pants were christened with hardware, likening itself to a computer harddrive. Aviation-style jackets adorned in patches, bearing a similarity to NASA gear. Silvers and baby blues harkening back to the new millennium visuals of the late 90s, a time of cyber futurism.
Women’s F/W 2019
Grunge is an era the fashion industry reflects on with reluctance, but for Donatella she reimagined the aesthetic in the house codes that made it something totally unique. Disheveled hair, mismatched layers, chaotic styling, neons mixed with flannel, silk and lace dresses under animal print fur, every girl with her own eclectic narrative. I loved the referencing of the infamous ‘Miss S&M’ collection of F/W 1992, the bondage aspect being the invisible string that made it all so cohesive. The characters in this season contained multitudes: shoolgirls, rockstars, skaters, hippies.
Co-Ed F/W 2023
As a self-admitted cinephile, Oscars’ night is one of my favorites of the whole year. And it seems like it’s Donatella’s as well, she’s a constant figure at the annual Oscar parties thrown by Elton John and Vanity Fair. The house of Versace has an intrinsic relationship with Hollywood, so it felt long overdue for the label to host a show in Los Angeles, during Oscar weekend no less with the catwalk framed by the glittering city. When I saw this collection, it was so obvious, this was a brilliant love letter to the city where dreams come true and the magic of film. Dresses felt like they were from the golden age of the silver screen designed by Edith Head. The menswear had a veneer of a showman ready to dazzle like Fred Astaire or and the suits reminded me of the 1940s silhouettes made famous by Katherine Hepburn or Gregory Peck.
