Something about Versace has always resonated with me. Maybe because I grew up in the 90s, or because it taps into the Latin part of me, or because a trip to Rome as a preteen primed my fashion brain to love anything loud and baroque. Even so, the Versace Resort 2020 lookbook caught my eye as I was scrolling through my fashion news feed a few days ago, and it’s been lodged in my mind ever since.
The effect these photos had on me was so strong that I had to step back and analyze it. Millennials these days – obsessed with self-analysis, amiright? So here’s what I found, broken down into two categories:
I: Fearlessness
The news this morning was not good. I suppose nowadays that’s not unusual, but day after day of political frustration, violence, and human rights crises take their toll on one’s psyche. I am constantly rerouting my fear and frustration into more productive avenues – donations, educating myself on current issues, work, and things that bring me joy and a sense of purpose.
This collection is unabashedly bold, life-affirming. It’s not an escape-route from reality, but rather a refusal to be quiet and succumb to that stranglehold that politics asserts on us. These clothes are designed for someone with a strong sense of self, and the “wild west” location connotes a forward-looking attitude.
There’s that unapologetic femininity that feels all-too relevant nowadays – you know I’m all for those big shoulders. And there’s a sense of fun, the idea that you can have your feet firmly on the ground and still not take yourself too seriously.
II. Americana, Italian Style
This has “spaghetti western” written all over it, doesn’t it? At least, that was my first thought. It clicked with me and brought me a feeling I was until that point unfamiliar with – gratitude that the US wasn’t being left behind. Or perhaps relief that we’re still relevant, that the past few years of deep and irreversible political error haven’t erased us from the minds of artists around the globe.
That concept of the American Dream may be poisoned more each day in the minds of the public, but this editorial presents it in a different light. It gives us a new perspective on that “wild west” sensibility of adventure and hope (deeply problematic issues of the morality of manifest destiny notwithstanding).
It’s messier than a white picket fence, but more exuberant. Pieces clash and compliment each other and the landscape at the same time. It’s strange how a brand so innately Italian can shed so much light on what it feels to be American in this moment, isn’t it?
It has me thinking that the apparent cookie-cutter neatness of our approach to success, beauty, politics, and life is beginning to crumble. It may fall away to reveal a new wave of industrious creativity where perfection is never a piece of the equation. Things can be too loud, or clash, or be too sexy, or too powerful, and it’s all just life.
Of course, this analysis is offensive to the idea of American isolation and exceptionalism. How dare anyone present the idea that an outside culture influence homegrown Americana (*side eye as I look up the origins of the hamburger*)? To that I say: identity is flexible, susceptible to influence and always changing. I’m not saying that we should all be Italian – I’m just saying that Donatella Versace has given us a perspective on Americana that we can learn from.
You can see the entire Versace Resort 2020 collection here via Vogue Runway.
What stuck with you most about this collection?
love,
Stig.
