In 1995, Vogue
magazine
declared the definitive end of the
grunge
aesthetic after the collection that Gianni Versace launched in the spring of that year.
“The body is back and luxury is back”, they pontificated after admiringly describing the flowered corsets and suit jackets with pronounced shoulders and narrow waists that the designer took to the catwalk.
Almost 30 years later, her sister, Donatella, has returned to that collection, but she has not needed others to decree the change of cycle for her.
“ Streetwear
is over
.
That's not fashion.
We need something high and powerful, ”she says, reclining on the white sofa that presides over her office at the Versace headquarters in Milan.
She herself, who goes back and forth finalizing the details of her new collection, is dressed in that imposing way that she describes: a purple tunic with a zebra print, vinyl pants of the same color and some very high heels.
Curiously, two hours later he will put on black jeans and a sweater to attend the fashion show of his friend Kim Jones, creative director of Fendi (both brands created a joint collection two years ago, Fendace), perhaps in order not to steal prominence to the
show
.
Oversized white shirt, jeans, gloves and earrings, all from the Versace fall/winter 2023 collection.Carlos García
For the first time in years, Donatella swapped Milan Fashion Week for Los Angeles, specifically the Pacific Design Center in Hollywood, to show her fall collection there three days before the Oscars ceremony.
“It all started there.
I perfectly remember the moment when Gianni told me: 'We have to dress the stars because they will then trust us'.
There was no one doing it, just him."
At that time, in the late eighties, only Versace (and perhaps Armani) dared to lower their fashion from the pedestal of millionaire and feignedly discreet clients to get involved with show
business.
and export an exuberant and unprejudiced aesthetic.
"He saw the strategy clearly, he told me: 'We have to be smart, reach the favorite actors of the moment.'
I wanted to go back to that time of change, above the show itself, and for that I thought I had to go back to Los Angeles”, he comments.
The star-studded
show
had nearly 40 million views on TikTok.
“I love Milan, but if I could live anywhere else it would be Los Angeles.
The way of thinking there suits me more… Much more liberal”.
Shortly after this interview, Donatella was traveling to the city to announce the creation of a scholarship dedicated to LGTBIQ+ students.
Short printed pink dress with a bodice, sandals and earrings, all belonging to the Versace autumn/winter 2023 collection presented in Los Angeles.Carlos García
From that almost founding moment of Gianni to today, everything has changed, including celebrity culture: "The red carpet continues to be the most appreciated form of advertising for us, but it is true that now, with digital, we no longer look at celebrities in the same way, as people far from us.
Celebrity matters more than ever, but in another way."
“Luckily, society has also changed.
Although there is still a long way to go, I think we are in a good situation for women.
Right now I'm interested in dressing women with a strong character, I don't care what their bodies are like.
At last we began to celebrate it without fear of showing it, ”she says.
"Nowadays, I'm attracted to people who take charge of their own lives, who are intelligent, who take care of the personal and the professional."
“It is not haute couture, the forms are more relaxed, but I wanted to return to fashion, to the real one, to the one that is made in the atelier”, explains Donatella Versace.
In the photograph, aviator-style sunglasses with double Medusa, and a 'biker' jacket from the Versace Icons collection.
Carlos Garcia
Twenty-five years later, she has learned that what she saw as a weakness was actually a strength: “I have realized that being a woman is the way to understand what women need when dressing.
Because I am also indecisive because of the fact that I am a woman, so I try to make clothes make me feel powerful and protect me from insecurities”.
Donatella approaches a
moodboard
in which there are cuts from the 1995 collection, Prince dressed in a gold mesh top, Madonna or an Avedon campaign from that same year in which Nadja Auermann and Kristen McMenamy appear in two sober but opulent black dresses, which she herself has covered this season.
“I have this recorded photo.
It was the moment in which Gianni turned the brand towards tailoring, turning it into something more sophisticated and artisan.
He wanted to go back there ”.
There are also samples of fabrics, 3D printed silks, knitted mesh, brocaded fabrics.
“There is no polyester here.
We have the workshop downstairs and we have invented everything here by hand.
It's not haute couture, the shapes are more relaxed, but I wanted to go back to fashion, the real one, the one made in the atelier.
And to the theatricality”.
Because if something defines Donatella it is drama and spectacle.
Hence, among the many moments with celebrities that he has starred in in the last 20 years, he stayed with the American rapper Lil Nas X at the MET gala with an incredible cape.
"Although without a doubt, my favorite moment was that of Lady Gaga on a white horse."
It was 2013 and the artist appeared at the American Music Awards with long straight hair, marked makeup and a lavender silk dress.
She was dressed as Donatella Versace.
It was 2013 and the artist appeared at the American Music Awards with long straight hair, marked makeup and a lavender silk dress.
She was dressed as Donatella Versace.
It was 2013 and the artist appeared at the American Music Awards with long straight hair, marked makeup and a lavender silk dress.
She was dressed as Donatella Versace.
Versace bodice dress and pumps.
The dresses, characterized by their structural and pleated bodices, fluted necklines and sophisticated rounded shoulders, are a true nod to the collections that Atelier Versace launched in the 1990s.
Carlos Garcia
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