DONATELLA VERSACE TOOK INSPIRATION FROM HER SPRING 1997 VERSUS COLLECTION FOR THE SPRING SUMMER 2025 RUNWAY SHOW, RECALLING A TIME BEFORE THE DIGITAL AGE WHEN FASHION WAS EXPERIENCED ON ELEVATED RUNWAYS AND THROUGH THE LENSES OF PHOTOGRAPHERS RATHER THAN FRONT-ROW IPHONES. VERSUS, WHICH WAS DONATELLA’S PERSONAL PROJECT WHILE HER BROTHER GIANNI HELMED THE MAIN LINE, REFLECTED THE CAREFREE SPIRIT OF THE ‘90S, A TIME SHE DESCRIBED AS FULL OF “FREEDOM, HAPPINESS, AND CASUAL FASHION CHOICES.” 

DONATELLA REVISITED THE VIBRANT ENERGY OF THAT ERA, RECREATING SOME OF THE BOLD PRINTS AND PATTERNS FROM THE 1997 SHOW. SQUIGGLY KNITWEAR AND FLORAL MOTIFS, RENDERED IN SILK AND CHAINMAIL, MIRRORED THE ORIGINALS, DRAWING A DIRECT LINE BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT. THE SETTING AT CASTELLO SFORZESCO, A HISTORIC MILANESE FORTRESS, PROVIDED A PICTURESQUE BACKDROP FOR THIS NOSTALGIC YET REFRESHED VISION. 

VERSACE’S SS25 SHOW WAS A SUCCESSFUL BLEND OF NOSTALGIA AND INNOVATION, CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF THE PAST WHILE EMBRACING THE POTENTIAL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY TO REIMAGINE THE BRAND’S ICONIC AESTHETIC.