Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XIX

2 2 2 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I T he Versace myth is what makes the Versace name world famous. It is centred on the idea of a world of fashion, glamour and sexiness. It is what has powered the brand since it was first launched in 1978 by fashion legend Gianni Versace. You would then expect the drama that has become so synonymous with the brand in their men’s autumn/winter collection for 2015, but overall, it was a surprisingly sober and reserved affair. Contrasting wildly with the women’s #GREEK collection – a sea of colour and hashtags, a testament to the modern and the futuristic – the men’s collection is subdued and simple, but 100 per cent Versace. “Versace stripped,” Donatella Versace announced before her show. “No decoration, no colour, no print. Just the soul of Versace: silhouette and cut.” Back to basics, then. A return to the simple for Versace, a platform on which Donatella can build a new structure honouring the soul of the brand. Maybe not that extreme, but it is a step back from the radical, the excess that Versace has appropriated for the past few seasons. Maybe Donatella feels the menswear collections of the fashion giant has lost its identity, or simply needs refreshing. If so, she has taken the tentative first steps with this season’s collection. It is revealed in front of an abstract deconstruction of the classic Versace medusa head, some of the sharpness that has been removed from the collection itself unloaded onto the set. The colour palette has a soothing effecting, with a rich layer of neutrals, and despite Donatella’s touting of the cuts, there is a sense of softness across the collection, exhibited in its most extreme forms with a hooded mink coat and an accompanying Mongolian lamb backpack. “Comfy, but sexy,” Donatella said of the jacquard blousons and parkas, which seem like blankets and are not nearly as sexy as the body-conscious cashmere knitwear in long cabled cardigans and even longer rib-knit tops, layered over leggings. The look is lean and athletic with a touch of something reminiscent of Peter Pan, but it takes an impressive masculine heft with the addition of oversize outerwear. The tailoring straddles a line between the utilitarian and the aesthetic, with single button jackets and baggy trousers which call to mind images of Charlie Chaplin. V E R S A C E