Just half a year since giving birth to her daughter Khai, supermodel Gigi Hadid is back to work. On Friday, March 5, the 25-year-old opened and closed the live-streamed Versace Fall-Winter 2021 show. To make her runway resurgence even more dramatic, she debuted fiery red hair, à la actress Anya Taylor-Joy in The Queen’s Gambit. The look was courtesy of one of the fashion industry’s favorite hairstylists, Guido Paulo. Unsurprisingly, she makes the color look easy to pull off.
But we can’t talk about Hadid without talking about Versace’s upcoming collection, entitled “Step Inside La Greca.” For next season, the luxury Italian label reimagined its signature Greca motif, conceptualizing a new geometric design, which makes its runway debut in various sizes and color combinations (check it out in the mini-gallery below). The reinvented motif also inspired the show’s optical illusion-like set, described by the brand as an immersive, vertical 3D maze that “feels like you can step right into it.”
The fashion house’s contemporized code adorns modern daywear, mesh dresses, eveningwear, denim, and accessories. The Greca motif is undeniably the star of the FW21 collection, and yet there’s much more that’s worthy of discussion. Long legs are shown off, thanks to small A-line silhouettes teamed with statement platform boots. Neutral tones are contrasted with bold pops of neon. A graffiti Medusa smiley appears on scarves and men’s outerwear and women’s shirts, as the brand puts it, “champions the brand’s sense of humor and rebellious character.” Modular bags are born to be personalized for the wearer thanks to customizable clip-on accessories. It will be a race to, quite literally, get our hands on what are bound to be the gloves of the season.
Bella Hadid, Irina Shayk, Mona Tougaard, and Precious Lee are among the other big-name models who hit the Versace catwalk. “Models are like actors, they bring the designs to life, just like when a performer portrays a character,” Donatella Versace said in a press release provided to GRAZIA. “During the filming of this show, I saw how important it is to give the models time to ‘feel’ the clothes they wear on the runway. Despite living in a digital era of immediacy, taking this time is crucial to form a genuine connection. This is what the present and future look like to me.”
Ahead, click through to see the 59-look collection.
Press “play” on the video below to experience the Versace FW21 collection’s accompanying film.
