Versace--The Line Continues
Unlike most of the fashion events held here, a Versace show always starts on time. So the crowd gathered in the ground floor theater of Gianni Versace’s stone palazzo didn’t have to wait long for an answer to the unspoken question that lent the evening its electricity: Can Donatella Versace lead the empire her brother founded?
The answer, demonstrated in one of the most confident collections seen in 10 days of shows here and confirmed by a standing ovation and rhythmic applause that continued for the first 15 minutes of an emotional backstage scene, is: Yes, she can. And with grace and courage, she has.
Just before the show began, a ribbon of words was projected across a curtain, first in Italian, then in English, as the audience sat in darkness punctured only by beams of colored laser light. “This show is dedicated to our brother Gianni’s love of work and to our entire staff, whose incredible love and devotion was so precious to our brother and means so much to us.”
The unsung sartre, the white-coated seamstresses who are the lifeblood of every fashion house, gathered backstage at the end, watching Donatella receive congratulations from fellow designers who said they came to lend support and show respect for her survivor’s mettle. At two earlier shows, one for the Italian press and buyers, the second for international retailers, Donatella started to take the traditional runway bow after the show, but retreated. By the end of the third show, staged for international press, celebrities and the designers now welcoming her as a peer, she walked to the end of the glass ramp with her eyes downcast, a small figure in black dwarfed by many of the supermodels her brother helped make famous.
“I feel very strong tonight,” Versace said backstage. “The audience made me strong. And all these people coming to support me, it’s very important to me.”
Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, Angela Missoni, Carla Fendi, Miuccia Prada and Mariuccia Mandelli stood in line to offer praise and hugs, many of them brushing away tears. “Coming here was the least I could do,” Armani said. “There should be less competition and more respect in our business.”
Demi Moore was among a contingent of recognizable faces that included Cher, Rupert Everett and Boy George. Moore said, “In the show, I felt there was everything of him, but so much of her in the clothes.”
Indeed. At a memorial service held in New York two months after Gianni Versace was murdered on the steps of his Miami retreat, Donatella said, “Bullets cannot stop a spirit.” Before the first shapely, sexy, slashed dress emerged, the soundtrack of pounding dance music specially created by Boy George signaled that the energy inherent in every Versace show had not died.
The collection was very Versace, revisiting themes he developed with punk references, an exuberant use of color and an uninhibited display of flesh in evening gowns. But there were touches Gianni might not have added, artisanal details and galaxies of beaded stars and planets that could have been interpreted as a private message between the siblings.
Before his death, Gianni Versace had already ordered materials including lightweight Prince of Wales wool. The menswear fabric ultimately appeared in a number of ways: a precisely cut gray bustier with toreador pants or as a ribbon bordering a slip dress of orange silk.
Printed dresses for day stopped just at the knee, a decidedly ladylike length. Some were asymmetrically cut to reveal one shoulder; a colorful, sheer layer peeked out from under a softer, more sedate abstract pattern on the other. Graphic embroidery in contrasting colors of Angora yarn decorated a striking group of tops and dresses, a web of a few strands forming a strap that caressed one shoulder. These styles both honored Gianni Versace’s love of modern art and posed as art themselves.
There is the expectation that the fashion equivalent of soft-core porn will be part of any Versace collection. Variations of a long, clingy toga, slit hip-high on the side and held together by only a gilt Medusa clasp at the center of the model’s naked back provided the evening’s lower form of flash. Molten gold and silver goddess gowns were more successful.
At a time when Donatella might have been paralyzed by grief, she delivered a collection that will likely be remembered both for its beauty as well as the outpouring of goodwill that greeted it.
Although Armani and Versace lived less than a mile apart, they’d never officially met, Armani said. Much was made of their rivalry for the crown of Italian fashion, even though their styles couldn’t have been more different. Presenting his collection the day before Donatella Versace, Armani remained true to the refined image that has made him the best-selling designer in the world.
“A man’s jacket is very sexy on a woman,” the designer said after the show. Especially if it’s worn open over only skin. The jackets, many unencumbered by fastenings, were longer, leaner and curvier than any man’s jacket. Some were just shrugged over the arms like a shawl, showing the piece that was the foundation of many outfits--a skinny, strapped bodysuit, worn with sheer, shiny trousers or diaphanous skirts.
Among the more sensation-seeking faction of the fashion press, Armani has nearly become the victim of his own relentless perfection. The thrills he offers are subtle ones. Soft uncolors of parchment or sea foam emphasized the lightness of transparent trousers and made Armani’s quietly exquisite clothes appear even more delicate.
Perhaps the tragedy of Gianni Versace’s death will result in greater harmony among the Milanese fashion community. Sales figures aside, the contrast of good-natured vulgarity and elegant simplicity that the two designers offer goes a long way.
