Versace RTW Spring 2023
Satin cargo pants are officially a trend, endorsed by none other than Donatella Versace in her solid, and varied, spring show.
Gigi Hadid, in a long, hooded jersey dress and towering platforms, opened the show, leading a gaggle of witchy women around a dark purple set appointed with hundreds of tall black candles. (Anna Sui would heartily approve of the decor.)
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“Dark Gothic goddess” is how the press notes sum up the look, Versace declaring that she “always loved a rebel — a woman who is confident, smart and a little bit of a diva.” Cue Paris Hilton, who closed the display wearing a metallic pink jersey minidress and a veil, whisking through the vast room with her chin held high and one hand on her hip. Her pointy pumps had a 5-inch heel resembling a blade, but she might as well have been wearing sneakers.
There was more black than usual in this Versace collection and it look great. Count on Donatella to serve up the fiercest, skinniest, stiletto-swallowing pants — here with a curtain of leather fringe swishing over the derriere. Beefy biker jackets glittering with gold studs mingled with slash-front tops, micro leather miniskirts and lacy baby-doll dresses accessorized with tiaras.
Purple and fuchsia were main alternatives, served up as slinky, nearly sheer knit dresses — another mainstay of Milan this season — and busier, more bohemian ensembles mixing zebra and floral patterns. The sleeker outfits, with their hard-edged glamour, felt more convincing.
Watching guests file into the show served as a reminder how much Versace has upped her shoe game recently under parent company Capri Holdings: Many tottered around on her radical satin Medusa platforms from the fall collection.
For spring, there were sleek boots with wedge heels resembling a Richard Serra sculpture, and industrial-strength Mary Janes with a chunky rubber platform sole for divas of the clubbing kind.
Launch Gallery: Versace RTW Spring 2023