Versace spring-summer 2011 at Milan Fashion Week 2011

Versace spring-summer 2011 at Milan Fashion Week 2011: Donatella Versace made the attraction of opposites the key focus of her spring/summer 2011 collection at Milan Fashion Week tonight.She offset thigh-high hemlines with “the new long”, a slim pencil that covered the knee.She contrasted cheeky cutouts, panels of see-through PVC, and rib cage-skimming jackets with high waisted skirts and modest necklines.

And she mixed plain white and beige with sharp, bright, primary stripes in red, turquoise and yellow, with black and white.

The Greek “fret” or “key” motif, first used by her late brother, Gianni, was a major element in this snappy, sculptured show.Like a frieze on a Delphic temple, it traced a line down the torso, on a slim patent belt around the waist, or in the flurry of multicolored fringing which marked the sexy little party-dresses, and cutaway tops with slim skirts.Many dresses featured equestrian-look “martingale” straps at the back, or sides, criss-crossing over bare flesh.Donatella Versace also wrote the epitaph for the famous Versace “platform”, accessorising all her models with spike-heeled, multi-strapped shoes with a “zero sole”.For red carpet devotees, she returned to a favourite theme, the Greek Goddess, with a parade of bra-top gowns, in red, turquoise, beige and white, swathed over the bodice with silk fringes, which then cascaded over the long skirts.
The Mad Men actress January Jones, together with Jada Pinkett-Smith, and her singer-daughter, Willow, and Alex James of Blur, were expected at the second showing of the Versace collection later tonight.
The Versace collection also featured several pieces of knitwear inspired by the young British designer, Louise Goldin, the British Fashion Council Fashion Forward winner, sponsored by Coutts, who has just started a consultancy project with the Italian brand.