VERSACE SPRING 2014

 KATLIN AAS (D´MANAGEMENT)

Drake's big up to Donatella closed the Versace show tonight, but it was Nine Inch Nails who soundtracked the rest of the presentation, and it was the sullen mean girls of hard rock, not hip-hop, who shaped the collection.

 TILDA LINDSTAM ()

 KATYA RIABINKINA (WOMEN)

Maybe that's why the whole thing worked so well. The Reznor situation was close to Donatella's heart. Beforehand, she was as excited as we've ever seen her as she waved around the Versace World Tour 2014 T-shirts that were standouts in the show (she wore one for her walkout). 

 LINDSEY WIXSON (D´MANAGEMENT)

 KASIA STRUSS (WOMEN)

The gigs listed on the back of the tee ran the usual gamut—New York, London, Paris, etc.—but Jupiter and Venus were also named. Interplanetary Donatella? That sounds like a lost masterpiece from space-rock gods Hawkwind.

 SASHA LUSS (WOMEN)

 HANNE GABY ODIELE (IMG)

The metal details came hard and heavy in the collection: studs on denim, mesh bandannas, chains round necks or harnessing torsos, hook-and-eye closings. 

 NADJA BENDER (FASHION)

 KATI NESCHER (WHY NOT)

Definitive: Lindsey Wixson in a shag cut, sheer blouse, black bandeau, denim pencil skirt hook-and-eyed down the front like it was stapled shut, and towering platform sandals bound to her feet with elastic bands. 

 MING XI (ELITE)

 JULIA NOBIS (ELITE)

But if the clothes looked tough, they had a surprising softness (there was a lot of linen in the denim), or at least a richness. The hard, hip-slung, sheeny circle skirts that opened the show were actually raffia.

 TIAN YI (D´MANAGEMENT)

 ZLATA MANGAFIC ()

To be perfectly frank, those opening looks—the collection's manifesto, if you like—threw major shade on the more traditional wrapped and revealing evening looks that closed the show.

 IRIS VAN BERNE (NEXT)

 NATALIA SIODMIAK (IMG)

That might be the Versace that Donatella imagines people expect from her. But how much better it is when she lets her rock 'n' roll heart run free.

 DARIA STROKOUS (WOMEN)

 ANNA EWERS (WOMEN)

 ZUZANNA BIJOCH (NEXT)

VERSACE SPRING 2014

 HOLLIE MAY-SAKER (D´MANAGEMENT)

 LOUISE PARKER (D´MANAGEMENT)

LINDSEY WIXSON (D´MANAGEMENT)

VERSACE RESORT 2014

 VERSACE

 RESORT 2014

 Sailor pants and swimsuits are Resort standbys, but trust Donatella Versace to put her unique spin on them. She started by swapping predictable navy and white (not a very Versace combo) for candy colors like lime, orange, pink, and aqua, and accenting the collection's marinière stripes with tiny floral prints. 

 Vichy checks were also part of the lively mix. Next, naturally, she amped the sex appeal way, way up. Pants and skirts with double rows of Medusa-head sailor buttons were so low-slung they barely clung to models' hip bones, and sweaters were chopped well north of the belly button. Most of the jackets, too, had a squared-off, abbreviated silhouette.

 Their presence made a slouchy sequined "jean" jacket worn with a matching micro mini really stand out.

 Slouchy and Versace in the same sentence? It only happened once. After dark, Donatella was thinking, as she normally does, along body-loving lines. Micro-pleated tulle dresses came with strappy asymmetrical necklines, or with slashes on the torso.

 The long-sleeve version was a covered-up, if not exactly demure, surprise. A black napa leather sleeveless dress didn't make the lookbook, but it was just about flawless.

 STEPHANIE HALL (SUPREME)

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