So many celebrities showed up last night at the Versace pre-fall 2019 presentation at the American Stock Exchange last night. Over the last year or so, Donatella’s been leaning into the nostalgia in her collections, revisiting some of Gianni’s most memorable classic looks – and this collectioncontinued that trend: the safety pin is all the way back. We saw it repurposed for Beyoncé’s performance for Mandela 100 earlier intoday’s site openand, timely too, as the safety pins showed up on the runway, updated for 2018 from the way they were done on Elizabeth Hurley in 1994.
But Donatella also borrowed from herself. You remember this, don’t you? If you don’t, think of it in a different print, with palm leaves instead of hearts.
Now you remember, right? Jennifer Lopez, Grammys, one of the most famous dresses of all time.
I f-cking love this new heart print though, even more, I think, than the original, and she had it on several pieces including pants and what looks like a corset situation. This is a really, really strong collection, one of my favourite Versace collections in years – signature Versace excess and extra with outstanding shape and structure. The timing works out well too. In September it was announced that Versace was acquired by the Michael Kors company (Capri Holdings) and the goalis to further boost revenuefrom $850 million to $2 billion. This collection should help with that. It looks like a commercial and critical hit.
Here’sBlake Livelyat the show last night, in the most obvious silver Versace, and then leaving afterwards withGigi Hadid. Blake has worn Versace before but the stronger relationship here is probably with Michael Kors. She is a Michael Kors favourite. She’s doing her corporate duty. As for hanging out with Gigi, there’s a relationship there too….brought together by, of course, Taylor Swift. I wonder, then, if there was any contact made with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, also wearing avery obvious Versace piece, and not all that different from Blake’s.
