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The year was 2000. Three years earlier, lauded Italian designer Gianni Versace was murdered by a crazed gunman outside his Miami home. His sister, Donatella, was left not only in tatters but as the new head of his eponymous label. Since his death, she had yet to make her mark on the fashion industry with many believing she may never emerge from her borther’s shadow. But minutes into Versace’s Spring 2000 show, Donatella sent one dress down the runway that changed the playing field; a sizzling, sheer, tropical-patterned emerald dress. It was so daring, so commanding.
That same year, Jennifer Lopez – the woman behind the massive hit If You Had My Love – wore the dress to the Grammy Awards. We don’t know who won a gramophone that year but we do remember that green dress.
It made perfect sense then for Donatella to mine the Versace archives and send down the same silhouette – on the same model Amber Valletta – 18 years on as part of the Pre-Fall 2019 collection in New York City overnight. The provocative plunge will now come in black with red, blue, green and orange love hearts.
