2 Chainz aka Tity Boi was in the audience at this show to see the first steps of a new Versace sneaker whose moulded interlocked chain sole is an ode to his nom de guerre: his tunes provided the pre-show soundtrack, too. Then the first model walked and the Versace production team swerved into EMF’s Unbelievable via The Fall’s Blindness, plus the briefest sample from Versace on The Floor.
Here, there, everywhere: the musical breadth at this show reflected a collection that foraged far and wide within the Versace canon. Old-but-new logo pins glinted on the outerwear; there was animalia aplenty in zebra and tiger-stripe overcoats for men and women; and Versace tartan, coloured every which way, was cut into fringed-edge strips on men’s overcoats, used in women’s kilts and thigh-highs, or splashed in bold red and blue on suiting.
The most abundant source material in this collection though was Versace casa, the anything-but-minimal homewares division of the label. Bracelets were fashioned from twisted cutlery; the Amore e Psiche and Sipario house prints decorated velvet mini-dresses, women’s suits, men’s silk shirting and velvet jackets. Hoodies for men and women featured print panels edged with cushion fringing.
Silhouettes veered from gathered at the sternum mini-dresses for women, sometimes in printed silk, sometimes in bead-punched black velvet, to rustically wide corduroy pants with padded and patched tartan work-shirts for men. There was an almost ’70s emphasis (2 Chainz’ sneakers apart) on substantial footwear, delivered via gold-buckled black boots with gold-edged casa-shaped cutaways in the heel.
Looks do furnish a room, especially when delivered with as much light-touch verve as here.
