Versace Fall ’12

Blunt bangs, bleached out brows and full on goth chic attire made for a very Lisbeth Salander-ish collection from Versace at Milan Fashion week. From the moment the first girl stepped out it was clear that the heroine of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of novels had been re-imagined as a cocktail dress clad girl with a taste for leather.

Adding to the goth goddess getup, cross motifs ran rampant through the collection, silk embroidered, gilded and even embossed into a leather skirt. Although the collection was mostly black loud blasts of acid yellow and orange made occasional appearances which only added to the myriad of unrelated elements in the collection.

A rogue alpaca coat, studded to the hilt leather coats and dresses and Oroton a knights of the round table-like chain mail that Gianni Versace used back in the day also made cameos in show. Donatella’s nostalgia for her own brand did not stop there however, VERSACE was spelled backwards and jumbled of several pieces, embroidered in medieval manuscript.

Paco Rabane was apparently yet another inspiration for the Italian designer as she took quite literal elements from his signature 60’s linked up transparent disks for her evening gowns. Panels of rhodoid (a trade name for a cellulose acetate Plastic) strips matched up with chain mail for evening gowns as well.

Hamish Bowles reviewed the collection for Vogue.com, declaring the dresses “hobbling sheaths that seemed fashioned for a New Age Princess Leia.” We couldn’t not agree more, the loosely plotted collection gave an overall sense of confusion which comes about when a designer tries a bit too hard leaving behind their audience in the wake.

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