Grunge is experiencing a bit of a comeback these days. And of all the designer labels to take it on, Versace was perhaps the most surprising. Although the brand was a mega-hit during grunge’s heyday in the 1990s, their signature style was actually the antithesis of this normcore trend, not one of its biggest perpetrators. But then their Fall 2019 show happened during Milan Fashion Week and suddenly, everything seemed clear to us. With the label’s signature paperclip decorations and harnessed embellishments, Donatella Versace put her own glamorous spin on the grunge look, effectively making it her own. This wasn’t Gianni‘s Versace anymore, it was hers, and though she used many of her brother’s indelible ideas, the execution was signature Donatella. However, that’s not to say that this was a good collection. It was, by all means, an extremely interesting one—especially with the convergence of two almost completely opposite styles—but what was also made all too clear was that this was mostly playing to the nostalgia in today’s millennials. We’re not suggesting that the line was just a gimmick, far from it, but one can’t help but notice the disparity between the underground grunge look with the more colorful (some might argue garishly) baroque aesthetic of the house. Both styles simply don’t mix well. The color combinations were too overwhelming, the layering looked out of place, and the best parts of the collection—the tailored ensembles—weren’t grunge at all. And no matter how many supermodels try to convince otherwise (and Shalom Harlow and Stephanie Seymour did good enough jobs), this was still a risky move Donatella shouldn’t have made in the first place!
Photo: Filippo Fior / Gorunway.com
