A silk t-shirt that read “I’m with the band” didn’t make the final cut. Donatella Versace didn’t need it; there was no missing the rock-chick cool of her spring collection, one crossed with a dose of pretty for a deft fusion of attitude and charm.
Like others this season, Versace is feeling the pull of the street, here distilled into something as simple as jeans worn with a silk shirt or one of the band tees that did hit the runway. But she made a point about the need to elevate that street influence. “There is casual and casual,” she said during a preview. “A T-shirt should cost $2,000 because it’s designer? No. It should cost that because it’s something.”
Versace opened with a “something” riff on denim. While the jeans, some in floral-embossed leather, were typically skinny, other pieces, including the show opener — a roomy jeans jacket and voluminous raffia skirt — were not. This was a recurring shape, in black as well as bold-stroke pastel prints. Other moments of light: barely-there gowns in chiffon and cutout, pasted-on lace, and a sassy chainmail update in shimmery blue and lilac. Throughout, the accessory of choice: harness chain jewelry for a luxe touch of heavy metal. It all left you smiling — Donatella at her rock-loving, devil-may-care best.
