Punk Hot. Versace AW24

At Versace things got hot. Punk hot. For autumn-winter 2024, Donatella Versace was thinking about all kinds of rebels. Siouxsie Sioux, who was on the soundtrack, was a stand-in muse, but for Donatella, the spirit of punk is as well expressed by defiant individuals: Prince, whose Versace-made jackets, fitted through the waist with wide shoulders and designed to make him look taller than his 5’2” frame, were a template for this season’s tailoring, and of course, her brother, Gianni, whose charismatic style codes like the Barocco print and chainmail echoed throughout the entire collection. While the models’ spiked hair and heavy eyeliner said “punk” straightforwardly, this was as polished as you expect from Versace, even more so because Donatella said she used Atelier Versace fabrics, first shredding them and then weaving them into tweeds dotted with crystals, which she cut into miniskirt suits or jackets that she paired with stirrup leggings and ballet flats for both genders. The virginal white swallow tail collars that decorated little black dresses and long ones were lifted from a 1993 Atelier Versace show staged at The Ritz in Paris. But the show’s most striking number – an hourglass column with a sheer bodice and sleeves and a neckline encrusted with crystals that only partially obscured the shoulder pads – mixed demurral and provocation. Donatella was certainly inspired this season, and it shows.