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. 

FOR THE SS25 COLLECTION, 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. 

IT LEANED MORE INTO PLAYFUL SWEETNESS THAN OVERT SENSUALITY, FEATURING BABY PASTEL SLIP DRESSES, CARDIGANS, DENIM, AND SHORT-SHORTS. QUIRKY DETAILS LIKE PERFUME BOTTLE AND CHAMPAGNE STEM HEELS ADDED TO THE COLLECTION’S LIGHT-HEARTED APPEAL.

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.