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Donatella Versace (born 1959) is a goddess of fashion. The female figurehead of one of the few remaining family-run fashion houses, she presides over seven brands under the Versace name. Her flamboyant, party-girl image has become synonymous with Versace itself.
Gianni Versace (born 1946) and Donatella grew up in Reggio Calabria, southern Italy. While her much older brother moved to Milan to seek his fashion fortune, Donatella studied for a degree in languages at the University of Florence. While there, her brother's career took off. After working for Callaghan and Genny, he set up his solo label in 1978. Suggesting the family's love for bright colours, body-hugging shapes and a large dose of glamour, it was a great success. He called on his younger sister to help develop the brand. The two worked together for much of the '80s and '90s, with Donatella concentrating on the sumptuous advertising images for which Versace is known to this day. She also set up the children's line, Young Versace, in 1993 and worked as head designer on the diffusion label, Versus.
When Gianni Versace was tragically killed in 1996, his sister became chief designer and inherited a somewhat daunting legacy. She met the challenge. Versace was brought into the 21st century by fusing Gianni's very Italian glamour with Donatella's own rock'n'roll instincts. Versace is continually in the public eye, not least because of its - and Donatella's - famous friends. Jon Bon Jovi, Courtney Love and Elizabeth Hurley are all devoted Versace fans. Madonna even posed as a sexy secretary in Versace's spring/summer 2005 ad campaign.
Donatella is also responsible for extending the brand's range, setting up both a cosmetics line and Palazzo Versace, the first six-star Versace hotel, which opened on the Gold Coast of Australia in 2000.
VERSACE COLLECTION FOR WOMEN AUTUMN/WINTER 2009-2010
The starting point for the Versace Women's Autumn/Winter 2009-10 collection is the reconfiguration of the clothing with a new interpretation of dimensions and textures, involving the crossover application of fabrics.
For instance, the trench in all its versions has been created as if it had been divided up into its component parts and then reassembled for a dynamic impact; the intensity of the colour palette is showcased through the weave of the fabrics. Scratch effects and ripples of movement lie at the core of the pieces, which come in total black challenged by flashes of colour.
The materials spring to life and become three-dimensional textural surfaces. Metal and nappa features are incorporated into the fabrics, creating brushstrokes of metallic light that illuminate and reveal aspects of the body. Voluminous sleeves terminate in a spiral.
The crossover of materials is also evident in the dresses where the slim and the full alternate in a way that stresses ever more emphatically the vertical quality of the silhouettes. For the furs, lacquered velvet, mink and chinchilla coexist in an interplay of light and rhythm, giving an almost metallic impression. Ceramic-effect lacquered sequins adorn two body hugging mini dresses, and provide a rigid framework to contain the liquid flow of the jersey dresses. Evening gowns, with a vertical line, are embroidered with tiny embellishments in coloured glass. The colours are blue black, cobalt, blue green, petrol blue, fuchsia, and turquoise, with flashes of scarlet and orange.
The Versace 'Reve', the iconic handbag, appears in fabric, python skin and in nappa, with special treatments that refer back to the scratched effect of the collection’s textiles. More restrained graphics define the new Versace 'Socialite' bag, created in contrasting materials, with buckles and fastenings echoing the wave movement of the decorative jewels in white gold. There are double platforms and 14cm heels in the same colour palette as the collection for sandals and pumps that are available in python skin, patent leather, nappa and iridescent suede. |
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