by Mark Holgate

Photographed by Elizabeth Lippman

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Every season, Versace finishes with Donatella’s vision, but it always starts with Gianni’s. What she’ll show for fall on Friday—to a sound track including a never-before-heard Prince song called “Hot Chocolate”—is no different. “I was looking at an early collection inspired by military uniforms,” Donatella Versace said Thursday afternoon at the house’s Via Gesu atelier as she was finalizing the looks. “The only thing I am not sure of yet is whether to show more pants—or skirts.” Both (cargo pant–pocketed lean trousers with a slightly cropped finish and box-pleated skirts to above-the-knee) looked equally great, worn with strict, narrow-waisted army coats and jackets—though instead of insignia buttons, her gilt fastenings come with the iconic Medusa head. In place of prints, she has been thinking about how to use flowers in a different way, with a recurring tulip motif: “It’s optimistic—a rose is too dramatic,” Versace said, laughing. And the strong color comes through in the accessories, from the laced ankle boots to the military brooches and squashy, sizeable bags (including the house’s first quilted one). “I’d do smaller styles,” she said, breaking into a laugh again, “but I’d end up carrying two.”

12 months ago  |  183 notes

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