The Perspex runway that housed a gargantuan 25,000 orchids at last night's Versace show was chief designer Dontalla Versace’s ode to her softer side.
By Christopher Prince
Over the last few seasons we've come to acknowledge the strong, sultry Versace woman – kohl eyes and disheveled hair at the ready, clad in bondage-inspired 80s garb. But the show that opened the Paris Haute Couture AW15 season was far removed from that typical aesthetic, highlighted by a glowing Medusa head adorned in flowers.
Through flared chiffon in 70s Stevie Nicks inspired silhouettes, to tattered hems and devoré velvet imagined in saccharine shades of mint and lavender, the Versace woman epitomised an ethereal elegance. Deconstruction was a key focus, felt in romantic festival dresses detailed in vines that interlaced across the form. It was a direct reaction to last season’s couture outing where Dontalla purposely engineered tailoring in couture-like techniques to give her Versace woman a new powerful wardrobe.
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At times the show morphed into familiar rock chick terrains – see the form-fitting lace numbers paired with towering platform heels in anarchic shades of black and grey, though the key thread that ran throughout was of ultra-femininity. Perhaps that battle of the feminine with the rough explained why the hair garlands worn in models tousled locks were decidedly more thorn-like than floral - there were no Coachella references here.
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In any case it was Donatella's attempt at creating her very own couture tribe. No matter the techniques or decadence, the Versace woman was a part of a new bohemian community and at one with nature, perspex runway and all.
