Versace is thriving. The confluence of Dua Lipa, Naomi Campbell and Lourdes Leon on the spring 2022 runway almost broke the internet. It definitely crashed Versace’s website momentarily, so heavy was the traffic to its livestream. The scene outside the Milan venue was just as frenetic, with young people lining up for in-person sightings. Donatella Versace knows how to capture the world’s attention. The collection was a bright, shiny revival of Versace’s many hits, aimed straight at the heart of the TikTok generation — young people for whom Dua and Lil Nas are household names, but who may be less familiar with the supermodels who helped propel the brand to fame 30 years ago. Naomi Campbell, though, was in the house to help show the new-gen models how it’s done. Dua opened the show in a cut-out jacket and slashed skirt tricked out in multicolor versions of the house-famous safety pins, and closed it in the even more iconic chain mail, dipped hot pink for the occasion. In between, Versace kept things young and playful, showing basketball silks and pajama sets in the archival Medusa print and the new La Greca print, and using the patterns for accents: a handkerchief top here, a bikini top there, and as patchwork on baggy faded blue jeans. The color palette was pure pop: a long run of Miami neons was bookended by sections of black, with a brief segue into collegiate red that featured what might be Versace’s first varsity letterman’s jacket. These clothes would be right at home in Miami, not least of all Imaan Hammam and Kiki Willems’s vinyl bustier dresses. In addition to Donatella’s Milano triumph, yesterday evening, the rumors materialised into an IRL collaboration with Fendi’s Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi. And oh my, this was the moment we’ve all waited for this fashion month.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.