Is there such a thing as hippie couture? Well, Donatella Versace has decided there is. This season, she took the expression ‘flower child’ to heart. On Sunday evening, her catwalk was a transparent Plexiglas platform encasing hundreds of orchids in purple and yellow (the same flowers that took the shape of a Medusa at its entrance). ‘I bought a few orchids,’ said the designer afterwards. ‘A few,’ was a gross understatement: nothing about Versace is ever downplayed, as was quickly proved by the first few outings.
Lara Stone opened the show sashaying to a remix of The Doors’ Break On Through in a lilac bias-cut chiffon dress with flared sleeves accessorised with platform go-go boots and a Coachella-esque flower crown. Her look was followed by a series of flowy ensembles and asymmetrical dresses in rose pink, pistachio green and sherbet yellow, all embroidered or printed with different leaf and flower motifs. There was a light, airy feel in the fabric movement and an enticing sexiness in the use of negative spaces - some of the dresses were held together by flower strings while others included the bare structures of corsets, provocatively but almost innocently baring the skin. The power woman wasn’t completely gone, though: she was there in the mini disco dresses made out of artfully intertwined strings of fabric, and in the last few looks, pure Hollywood-siren-cum-red-carpet material (worn by Karlie Kloss, Doutzen Kroes and Kendall Jenner; who else?). While those looks felt less fresh, they served their purpose. That raw sexual energy is what people love about the Italian brand. Though there was something more intriguing about the relaxed, hippie Donatella - it would be nice to see more of her.
