SPRING-SUMMER 2025 CASTELLO SFORZESCO

Joy is a statement. Spurred by spontaneity, it is a reactive and resolute expression of freedom. The Versace Spring-Summer 2025 collection makes joy its driving force in a free profusion of energy fueled by the savoir-faire at the heart of the House. In the monumental cortile of the Castello Sforzesco, an illuminated fracture cuts through the runway. As if struck by lightning, it electrifies the historic grounds with a renewed vitality reflected in a score accelerating the classical into the electronic. On this premise, Donatella Versace proposes a re-imagined look at the notion of more rather than less: a wardrobe lighter, fresher and freer in spirit. Considered in construction but effortless in practice, the collection turns daywear into an unassuming canvas for an exuberant approach to dressing. Guided by the impulse of desire, the casual is given equal value to the opulent. Silhouettes simple in cut speak volumes in prints. Materials smooth in fabrication appear textured by pattern. Accessories candidly adapted from objets d’art infuse the everyday with the exceptional. An appetite for freedom creates an instinctively individual look: thrown-on, mismatched and steeped in the joy of dressing. It is unapologetically positive and authentically Very Versace.

MOTIFS

Print, the visual vernacular of Versace, epitomizes the spontaneous spirit of the collection. Casually collaged on the body in clashing compositions, five emblematic graphics contrast and interact with one another in effervescent exchanges, paired with blocks of color. A Medusa cameo print with gold accents adapts the collection’s palette of browns. Donatella Versace’s flower of preference, a wild rose print plays with shadow effects across pale pastel, brown and powder blue interpretations. The colors reverberate in a poppy print, which is also explored within the frames of the Barocco. A romantic wave print interrupts the floral flow in soft zigzags. The sensory overdrive of pattern is celebrated in a painterly exotic Barocco print in which the House’s signifying graphic is redrawn as multicolor florals. Backdropped by brown – the season’s proposal for a new black – it evokes a kind of camouflage, re-appropriating that pattern’s expected connotations with a sentiment of joy.

TECHNIQUES

The motifs transform through the innovative savoir-faire of Versace. Printed on metal mesh – employed nonchalantly in mercurial day dresses and skirts – the floral and wave patterns are animated by slivers of silver or gold rippling through the painted surface. A mesh proposal for the future, state-of-the-art Atelier Versace corsetry is forged in 3D-printed recycled nylon polymers like armor. Plated with chrome, the tech couture innovation creates a seamless and zero-waste form molded to the exact contour of the body. The poppy pattern morphs into three-dimensional form in a technical cloqué-effect jacquard exercised in outerwear, tailoring and sportswear. The effect is explored in the dancing hems of dresses adorned with poppy prints, while poppy cut-outs on men’s shirts create a trompe l’oeil sensibility, an illusion reflected in printed leather and printed transparent fabrics. Inviting the eye to look closer, handbags rendered in the poppy motif are realized in all-over glass beading, also echoed in the beaded flower fragments of the final looks of the show.

SILHOUETTES

A study of the Versace shirt and its adaptability permeates the collection, from business, casual and fluid shirts to shirt dresses and swimwear-mutated shirts cut along the Adonis belt. Transformed by pattern and color, the collection’s form language retains an ease and simplicity. The women’s silhouette centers on a sportive A-line conveyed in knee-length dresses and skirts with intensified movement, while tailoring cuts a minimal curve. Dresses and gowns – including Atelier Versace creations – appear spontaneously draped around the body. A focus on separates inspires the innocent but confident mixing and matching of skirts with little jackets, cardigans and shirts often intentionally mis-proportioned in size as a sentiment of nonchalance. The idea is reflected in the men’s silhouette where seemingly shrunken jackets and shirts define a body-conscious form. Men’s tailoring oscillates impulsively in the volumes of trousers and blazers, some of which manifest in freer sleeveless structures. Japanese women’s and men’s denim trousers twist around the leg, mimicking the trace of movement and wear.

ACCESSORIES

Epitomizing the collection’s appetite for objects of desire, the new emblematic Kleio handbag is illuminated in tactile leather patchwork, wild rose embroidery, and the poppy motif achieved in precious all-over beading. With its soft construction in supple leather or printed canvas, the Versace Tag line makes its first runway appearance in hobo and bowling silhouettes in materials and patterns imbued with the joy of the season. The spirit of spontaneity inspires accessories impulsively constructed from objets d’art: plexiglass replicas of Versace’s Crystal parfum bottles are adapted into the locks of handbags, the heels of sling-backs and mules, and the pendants of jewelry, which also feature pens and miniature watches. Home objects transmute into accessories: pumps and mules are set on the Medusa-adorned stem of Versace wine glasses recreated in metal, while eyewear evoking the translucent colors of the flacons is informed by the treasures of Donatella Versace’s own wardrobe. The feeling echoes in plexiglass platform heels and V-shaped heels applied across shoes and boots. Men’s shoes traverse delicate or hardware-adorned sandals, heeled rider boots, and new animations of the Mercury trainer. Looks are spontaneously accentuated with gilded bijoux elements derived from the Acanto leaf of the Barocco.