Art: Zhenya Z

In contrast to other fashion houses, Donatella Versace opted to delve deeply into unapologetic surrealism for the Italian luxury purveyor’s Spring/Summer 2021 offering. A lengthy period of time in isolation rendered many unable to comprehend a world beyond their own four walls, but Versace’s colourful range spoke directly to languid summer days spent oceanside – or more accurately, beneath it. Models’ locks were gently plastered to the sides of the face as if recently submerged, as they strode along the seabed of ‘Versacepolis’, an underwater utopia. Colourful garments cut through the aquatic setting, with starfish, seashell and coral affixed to shirts, shorts and skirts aplenty. Ample exposed flesh lent a noticeably sultry undertone to the collection (this is Versace, after all), which could easily double as an elevated Miami vacation capsule. The pièce de résistance, however – an ornate emerald dress with exaggerated shoulders and covered in marine life – truly embodied the show’s dreamy mythos.

This is Versace’s new work of art.

“WORK OF ART” WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE NINTH EDITION OF GRAZIA INTERNATIONAL. PURCHASE YOUR COPY HERE.