Scene setting: How to compete with the most talked about social media moment of last season, when Jennifer Lopez broke the internet for the second time sporting a new version of the tropical print dress she wore to the Grammy Awards in 1999 (which triggered the invention of Google Image search). Turn the voyeuristic concept of a runway show on its head, and make its style conscious guests stare at themselves instead. As they entered the brand’s cavernous show venue, narrow tiers of seating faced a reflective live screen. As the style conscious set sat waiting for the show to begin, staring at their own reflections, the screen began hallucinogenically distorting, with front rowers’ heads and bodies bulging, contorting and merging into each other. Signalling the start of the show, Donatella Versace’s face appeared in tessellated form, performing a variety of pouts and poses, reflecting the brands all attention grabbing aesthetic.
Mood board: The show combined men’s and womenswear for the first time, ranging from seductive tailoring to colourful sportswear, incorporating seventies swag – hot pink suiting, denim and leather patchwork, tropical and zebra prints – and a series of astonishingly sexy micro mini dresses in silver and neon chainmail, sported by Bella Hadid and Kendal Jenner, naturally.
Finishing touches: Prepare for vertiginous platforms, as Versace scaled up A/W 2020’s penchant for the lug sole boot (see Prada and Loro Piana) with sky high stacked boots. The multi piece bag, a hybrid style with clippable pouches, is still here to stay (also seen in a new bag cross body style at Bulgari with an attachable clutch), and at Versace this was echoed in a shoulder bag with a circular coin purse swinging from its strap. §
