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Donatella's Versace'
Written by: Godfrey Deeny
Photos by: Gruber-FWD
Milan, Feb 28, 2001/ FWD/ --- Is this as plush as it gets?
After the latest start to a fashion show in eons, Donatella Versace presented an opulent, luxurious
collection Wednesday in Milan that temporarily made the fashion gathering forget the miserable Milan
climate.
Arctic winds spewed snow all over northern Italy, closing the Milan airport and forcing flights from
New York to land in Zurich.
The show was held back an hour, and then another 30 minutes to permit Anna
Wintour and her cohorts to make the show.
But when the first model hit the catwalk, the U.S. Vogue
editrix still hadn't shown.
Donatella took a feminine turn this season. Her silhouette was curvaceous and forgiving, her fabrics
immodestly rich - wolf, mink lining, silky cashmeres.
Perhaps her smartest choice was an amazing leather printed to look like denim that she used on
dresses, bomber jackets and tight pantsuits.
The Donatella doll is a high-maintenance gal who likes
to lounge around in deep cashmere V-necks and hit the town in sleek emerald green pleated dresses
that nobody shy should wear. For fall, she'll have dark eyeliner and a Veronica Lake peek-a-boo cut.
Few houses display accessories as well as Versace.
This season, Donatella sent out some great
bulky bags in varnished and stained leather, and several soft "carpetbagger" looks with antique
handles that will be bestsellers.
The show began powerfully, though it flagged in the middle with classic one-button, deep gorge
suits that were surprisingly bourgeois, and far too many abstract jersey dresses with wide belts.
With rocker Sting tapping his feet in the front row to the pounding trance soundtrack, Donatella hit
her stride for evening.
A slew of semi-transparent striped dresses were impressive, as were a trio
of beige silk columns with leather bondage tops, even if Fernanda Pallares looked more than troubled
as her left breast spilled out uproariously.
And nobody on the runway looked better than Kimora Lee Simmons, who sat smiling and jewel-bedecked -
we're talking major rocks - opposite the rockers.
When one gentleman complimented Simmons on her
beauty, the leggy lass replied: "That's because I'm naked ... in my Versace."
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