An Archival Revival and the Return of a Supermodel – Versace Does It Again

Versace: come for the clothes, stay for the supermodel extravaganza. Not only were models-of-the-moment like Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid, and Kaia Gerber on the runway, but so was Shalom Harlow. Back in the day, Harlow was the queen of the couture catwalk and a frequent model for the house of Versace, but she has been absent since she last walked for Alexander Wang in 2012. She made for a thrilling close to the show in a sparkling black dress wrapped with midnight floral paneling, but before the big reveal, an explosion of technicolor preceded her.

For Spring/Summer 2019, Versace revived archival prints and silhouettes from Gianni Versace’s famous Spring/Summer 1993 collection.

For Spring/Summer 2019, Versace revived archival prints and silhouettes from Gianni Versace’s famous Spring/Summer 1993 collection. What that meant was a technicolor parade of mismatched stripe and grid patterns in vibrant primary colors alongside clashing florals layered one on top of the other. It also meant kicky floral jumpsuits covered in flared ruffles (Yasmeen Ghauri and Linda Evangelista wore Gianni’s polka-dotted version back in 1993) and slinky leather minidresses.

A few of the looks suffered for all of the hodgepodge patterns as it was fairly difficult to tell what you were looking at. At times, the archival revival might have gone a little overboard, but it also delivered reminders of Gianni’s design genius, reimagined for today – like his yellow suit, which was transformed into a formidable blazer-dress.