Versace Menswear Spring Collection:Very Roman

Versace presented Spring 2015 menswear during the Milan Fashion Week.

The collection is inspired by the Romans - with their traditional elements and accessories. There can be spotted the big handbags. With some models carrying the brand's ornate dinner plates as accessories, and one model wearing a string vest and wrap that recalled a toga, it wasn't just Cuba that the collection travelled to.

There was the feeling that this is a brand out to replicate the dominance of the Roman Empire – in fashion terms anyway. With a brand identity as strong and opulent as this, Donatella could arguably be called an empress of Italian fashion.
Models wore medallions with medusas, some bearing miniature perfume bottles of a new Versace fragrance. The signature scarf print appeared on the skimpiest of trucks, and matching towel slung over the model's bare shoulder.

To give the collection a holiday feel, there were references to Cuba. Donatella said she was "in a more relaxed mood this season, and I was inspired by this relaxed part of the world." This influence was in the dusty pinks and blues of Havana buildings used on double-breasted suits with three-quarter length trousers, and palm tree shapes applique'd onto those white jeans. Cut-out motifs based on graffitti in Cuba brightened up biker jackets and hold-alls.

As expected of Versace’s interpretation of masculinity, leather, denim, swimwear and underwear played a key role in the collection. Depicting the label’s trademark overblown depictions of secondary gender characteristics of male identity, the collection included strong-shouldered white denim jackets, white jeans cut and embroidered with baroque swirls, laser cut hand-frayed black jeans, black leather biker jackets with open laced sleeves, and skimpy white underwear and swimwear. Accessories including rope chain Medusa bracelets, thin gold necklaces, ankle chains and medallions with miniature fragrance bottles served to complement an out-and-proud masculinity that also embraced a colour palette of reformed pastels and gold.

To convey its conceptual brief, the collection featured Havana street scenes writ large in garments such as macramé embroidered shirts and patchwork leather jackets, while Cuban graffiti inspired prints and jacquard textures. Rich fabrics such as crepe de chine, wool crepe and luxurious silk jersey added dimension and depth of movement to suits, blousons and track pants, whereas knitwear continued this sense of fluidity in clothing, with drop-stitch cardigans, fine-gauge crochets and cable cardigans in cotton and lurex.